Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Acquires New Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 3,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $995,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter worth $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $307.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $125.48 billion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $290.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $227.12 and a twelve month high of $309.37.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.74%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This represents a 20.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% 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.