Gallacher Capital Management LLC Has $285,000 Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Gallacher Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Gallacher Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,085,849,000 after purchasing an additional 198,008 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,420,028,000 after buying an additional 288,234 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,242,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,261,327,000 after buying an additional 77,187 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $855,287,000 after buying an additional 553,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,703,000 after buying an additional 905,043 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ADP. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

ADP traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $242.74. The company had a trading volume of 1,105,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,788,043. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $205.53 and a 12-month high of $256.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $245.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.95. The stock has a market cap of $99.35 billion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 93.09%. The company had revenue of $5.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.50%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $485,520.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $485,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,829 shares of company stock worth $965,274 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.