Perennial Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Perennial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,340 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $409,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,307 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,510,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,860 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,883 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,645 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $808,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 24,229 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,403,000 after purchasing an additional 3,123 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday. TD Securities lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $305.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 473 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total value of $144,832.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,218,112.80. The trade was a 6.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the company'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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,451 shares of company stock worth $743,024 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ ADP traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $326.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,183,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,708,223. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $329.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $305.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $302.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $132.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.88 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.05%.

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.