Cambridge Trust Co. Raises Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Cambridge Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 56,905 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 988 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $13,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 34.7% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 8,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 3,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.5% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 8,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,995,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFS Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. PFS Investments Inc. now owns 1,396 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ADP. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:ADP traded down $1.14 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $241.76. 417,901 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,805,162. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $99.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $201.46 and a 52-week high of $256.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.18.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The business had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total transaction of $173,104.42. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,159,958.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total transaction of $173,104.42. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,159,958.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,162 shares of company stock valued at $3,741,859. Insiders own 0.26% 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.