Alta Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Alta Capital Management LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 9.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,426 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 841 shares during the quarter. Alta Capital Management LLC's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during 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 buying an additional 277,324 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 65,965 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,807,438,000 after purchasing an additional 902,354 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,796,415,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 219,032 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ADP. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $307.08.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $306.26. 3,637,760 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,720,468. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $329.93. The stock's 50 day moving average is $309.61 and its 200 day moving average is $302.94. The company has a market cap of $124.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.79% and a return on equity of 77.33%. Automatic Data Processing's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.88 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $140,120.92. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,158,682.96. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following 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. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

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.