Meridian Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $754,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at $11,440,548.48. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 96,946 shares of company stock valued at $27,462,781. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $305.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.12 and a 1-year high of $309.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $289.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.02.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 59.77%.

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.