Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $4 Million Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 28.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,010,014 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,629,852,000 after buying an additional 794,328 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in 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 last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 94,265.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,770,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,617,256,000 after purchasing an additional 6,763,553 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $1,420,028,000 after purchasing an additional 288,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,242,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,261,327,000 after acquiring an additional 77,187 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,071,250. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $215,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,071,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $244.21. 1,395,727 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,832,796. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.46 and a 12-month high of $256.84. The company has a market cap of $100.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $247.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $239.13.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 65.19%.

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.