Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC Acquires 157 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,538 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 157 shares during the quarter. Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $4,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,923,265,000 after buying an additional 277,324 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,583,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,098,305,000 after buying an additional 65,965 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,174,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,807,438,000 after buying an additional 902,354 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,796,415,000 after buying an additional 1,299,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,137,710,000 after buying an additional 219,032 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,852.74. This represents a 11.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. The trade was a 6.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,451 shares of company stock worth $743,024. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $305.64.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of ADP opened at $322.63 on Thursday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $323.66. The firm has a market cap of $130.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. The business had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.88 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.05%.

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.