Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 9,686 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 141.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,531 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,686 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $4,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $11,923,265,000 after purchasing an additional 277,324 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 65,965 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 902,354 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,299,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the company'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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at $2,158,682.96. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the company'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 owns 12,073 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP traded up $3.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $319.37. 1,488,982 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,694,463. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $322.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $129.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $297.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $299.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Automatic Data Processing's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is 63.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Barclays upped their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on 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 lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $303.55.

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.