Meritage Portfolio Management Acquires New Shares in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Meritage Portfolio Management bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,820 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 106.0% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 228 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,996.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total value of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,018,996.19. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $485,520.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,179 shares in the company, valued at $4,380,645. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP traded down $1.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $244.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 692,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,782,596. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $100.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.68, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $205.53 and a 1-year high of $256.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.31.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ADP. Wolfe Research upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Company Profile

Automatic Data Processing, Inc provides cloud-based human capital management solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Employer Services and Professional Employer Organization (PEO). The Employer Services segment offers strategic, cloud-based platforms, and human resources (HR) outsourcing solutions.