Appleton Partners Inc. MA Purchases 1,629 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 25.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,139 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,487,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 34,655.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,901,007 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $886,345,000 after acquiring an additional 2,892,660 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $455,993,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at about $396,714,000. 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 valued at $1,796,415,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $342,942,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock traded up $1.04 on Monday, reaching $307.30. 263,180 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,709,580. The company has a 50 day moving average of $309.61 and a 200 day moving average of $302.95. 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 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $329.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.74 billion, a PE ratio of 31.44, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 77.33% and a net margin of 19.79%. Automatic Data Processing's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior 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 year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ADP shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. 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, May 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $307.08.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 12,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $140,120.92. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,158,682.96. The trade was a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.