Merit Financial Group LLC Has $5.33 Million Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 15.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,448 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,371 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,923,265,000 after buying an additional 277,324 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% in the 4th 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 902,354 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in 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 valued at $1,796,415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of Automatic Data Processing 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,158,682.96. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,451 shares of company stock worth $743,024 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $305.64.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock traded down $0.04 on Thursday, reaching $326.17. 1,817,095 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,708,073. The firm has a market cap of $132.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $327.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company's 50-day moving average is $305.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $302.23.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business 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 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is currently 63.05%.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.