MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 7,596 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,770,000. Automatic Data Processing accounts for approximately 1.7% of MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,085,849,000 after purchasing an additional 198,008 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,420,028,000 after acquiring an additional 288,234 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,242,859 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,261,327,000 after acquiring an additional 77,187 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $855,287,000 after acquiring an additional 553,946 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $752,703,000 after acquiring an additional 905,043 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

ADP traded up $2.38 on Tuesday, hitting $245.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,202,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,781,435. The company's fifty day moving average price is $245.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.95. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $205.53 and a 1-year high of $256.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $100.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.52 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total value of $90,899.68. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,966 shares of company stock valued at $749,524 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

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.