Capital Advantage Inc. Makes New $1.15 Million Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Capital Advantage Inc. bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,911 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,145,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 667,068 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $194,117,000 after buying an additional 51,828 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 529,690 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $146,581,000 after acquiring an additional 22,766 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 7,900 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,313,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,683,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,644 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,701,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ADP opened at $303.96 on Tuesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $322.84. The stock's 50-day moving average is $298.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $298.88. 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 stock has a market cap of $123.85 billion, a PE ratio of 31.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

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 $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped 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 note on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $303.55.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 473 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. This trade represents a 6.13 % 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 three months. 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.

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