Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC Takes $1.03 Million Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,032,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,923,265,000 after acquiring an additional 277,324 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% during the fourth 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 grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% during the fourth 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 during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,796,415,000 after buying an additional 1,299,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,137,710,000 after buying an additional 219,032 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, the vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,158,682.96. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $321.09 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $323.66. The company has a market capitalization of $130.34 billion, a PE ratio of 33.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $301.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $301.08.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ADP shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $305.64.

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.