Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Purchases 5,061 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 180,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,061 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing accounts for 0.8% of Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $43,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 14.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 801,857 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $200,256,000 after purchasing an additional 99,515 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $152,405,000 after purchasing an additional 264,466 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 195.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 51,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,888,000 after purchasing an additional 34,118 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,924,000. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% in the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ ADP opened at $277.69 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $205.53 and a 12 month high of $281.54. The stock has a market cap of $113.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $263.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $251.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ADP shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $265.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total value of $7,164,724.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,817 shares of company stock valued at $15,999,208 over the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.