Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Sells 88 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA reduced its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,310 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keener Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 230.3% in the 1st quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ADP. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $265.36.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $275.91 on Thursday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $205.53 and a 1-year high of $281.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average is $263.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $251.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 89.20% and a net margin of 19.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

Automatic Data Processing 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.