Everett Harris & Co. CA Decreases Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Everett Harris & Co. CA decreased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 282 shares during the quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $77,750,000 after buying an additional 15,340 shares during the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at approximately $470,000. Dash Acquisitions Inc. raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% in the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after acquiring an additional 2,781 shares during the period. Finally, DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth $951,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ADP. UBS Group increased their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.27.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $303.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $123.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $297.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $283.90. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $311.67.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 81.85%. Research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 64.23%.

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.