Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 1,139 Automatic Data Processing, Inc. $ADP

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $351,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2,600.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 81 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 58.1% during the first quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ADP. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $316.70.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $291.61 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $299.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $272.62 and a fifty-two week high of $329.93.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $5.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.05 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.84% and a return on equity of 72.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Automatic Data Processing has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.811-11.011 EPS. Research analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 13,599 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.57, for a total value of $4,033,055.43. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 17,684 shares in the company, valued at $5,244,543.88. The trade was a 43.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 8,728 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.43, for a total transaction of $2,604,697.04. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 80,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,032,866.33. This represents a 9.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,516 shares of company stock worth $15,632,410 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.