Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 120 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% during the third quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the third quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,062 shares of company stock worth $12,299,550 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ADP. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP opened at $286.85 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $116.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.61, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $298.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $278.61. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $309.63.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 65.74%.

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.