Freestone Grove Partners LP Buys Shares of 34,711 Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 34,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,161,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth $455,993,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth $396,714,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,796,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,390 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at about $342,942,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 41,710.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,090,422 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $319,199,000 after acquiring an additional 1,087,814 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ ADP opened at $298.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $121.70 billion, a PE ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $322.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $298.38 and a 200-day moving average of $298.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.88 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ADP shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $296.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $301.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total value of $704,869.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $929,007.90. This represents a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total value of $144,832.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. The trade was a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,775 shares of company stock valued at $1,447,893. 0.21% of the stock is owned by 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.