Golden State Equity Partners Invests $544,000 in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Golden State Equity Partners bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,779 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $544,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. S.A. Mason LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 2,489 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Field & Main Bank increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 992 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC now owns 18,105 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,531,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 435.8% during the 1st quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,271 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,055,000 after acquiring an additional 10,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,036 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,539,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the firm'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 value of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares of the company's stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $303.45. 1,931,112 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,711,231. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $310.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $303.10. 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 capitalization of $123.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given 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 dividend yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ADP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. TD Securities increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $307.08.

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.