Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 6,174 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 62.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,654 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,174 shares during the quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC grew its position 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. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% during the 3rd 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock traded up $1.69 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $288.82. 452,607 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,010,735. The company has a market cap of $117.68 billion, a PE ratio of 30.82, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $298.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $277.37. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $309.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 currently 65.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 40,058 shares of company stock valued at $12,009,103. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

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.