Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Takes $1.10 Million Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,739 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,095,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Grassi Investment Management purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter worth $227,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 96.4% in the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,974 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 1,460 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at about $205,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,927 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,028,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 1,381 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 473 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total value of $144,832.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,218,112.80. This trade represents a 6.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Securities boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $305.64.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of ADP traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $321.09. The stock had a trading volume of 962,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,705,331. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $323.66. The firm has a market cap of $130.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. 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 fifty day simple moving average is $301.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $301.06.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Automatic Data Processing's 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.