Park Avenue Securities LLC Acquires 1,341 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,018 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,341 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADP. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 34,655.1% in the 1st 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 valued at about $455,993,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at about $396,714,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,299,390 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at about $342,942,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $305.64.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $326.81 on Monday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $329.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $305.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $302.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 now owns 7,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ADP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.