Freedom Investment Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 16.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 469 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter worth $27,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% during 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 bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $306.92 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $125.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.12 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $291.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.58.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing 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 approximately $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $5,253,553.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,464,384.66. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,504 shares of company stock worth $20,298,056. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.