Vontobel Holding Ltd. Grows Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 453.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,790 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 130,106 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $48,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position 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 worth $886,345,000 after purchasing an additional 2,892,660 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at about $455,993,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth approximately $396,714,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in 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 buying an additional 1,299,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth approximately $342,942,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Mizuho raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Securities upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $307.08.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 7,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,158,682.96. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADP traded up $3.91 on Friday, reaching $308.96. 1,393,190 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,714,041. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $312.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $303.42. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $329.93. The firm has a market cap of $125.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.05%.

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.