GAM Holding AG Boosts Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

GAM Holding AG boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 110.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,123 shares during the quarter. GAM Holding AG’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Appleton Partners Inc. MA increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 25.0% during the first quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 8,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,487,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter valued at about $216,000. Rockline Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 3.3% in the first quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,210,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 71.7% in the first quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 1,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Finally, Segment Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% in the first quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 59,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,097,000 after buying an additional 869 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADP has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.08.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,158,682.96. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $306.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $309.61 and a 200 day moving average of $302.94. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $329.93. The firm has a market cap of $124.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

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 return on equity of 77.33% and a net margin of 19.79%. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 63.05%.

Automatic Data Processing 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.