Skopos Labs Inc. Invests $572,000 in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Skopos Labs Inc. bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $572,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Eagle Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 3,995 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $931,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 9,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,293,000 after purchasing an additional 3,707 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 12,977 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,072,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at about $951,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 140.6% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $572,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company 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 report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $253.00 to $251.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.42.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total value of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,018,996.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP traded down $2.59 on Friday, reaching $248.90. 973,940 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,279,904. The stock has a market cap of $101.87 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $205.53 and a 52-week high of $256.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $246.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $241.18.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. The company had revenue of $5.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.52 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.