Morningstar Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 5,820 Automatic Data Processing, Inc. $ADP

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Management LLC has acquired 5,820 shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADP), valued at approximately $1,795,000, indicating growing institutional interest in the company.
• A number of hedge funds have increased their holdings in ADP, with some like Brighton Jones LLC raising their stake by 92.1%, reflecting a positive outlook on the company's performance.
• The stock has a current average rating of “Hold” from analysts, while Automatic Data Processing reported earnings per share of $2.26, exceeding expectations in the latest quarterly results.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,820 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,795,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 92.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,026 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,935,000 after purchasing an additional 4,808 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 3,664 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,495 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 8.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 250,836 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $76,638,000 after purchasing an additional 20,467 shares during the period. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter worth $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing to a "hold" rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $315.00 to $290.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $316.70.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $284.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $115.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.82. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $272.62 and a 52-week high of $329.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company's 50 day moving average price is $296.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.93.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.05 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.84% and a return on equity of 72.84%. Automatic Data Processing's revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Automatic Data Processing has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.811-11.011 EPS. 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is currently 61.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 13,599 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.57, for a total value of $4,033,055.43. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 17,684 shares in the company, valued at $5,244,543.88. The trade was a 43.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 8,728 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.43, for a total transaction of $2,604,697.04. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 80,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,032,866.33. This represents a 9.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,516 shares of company stock worth $15,632,410 over the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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