Sentry Investment Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,161 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 232 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 94,265.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,770,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,617,256,000 after purchasing an additional 6,763,553 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $531,416,000. Imprint Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 24,743.9% during the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 987,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $98,780,000 after buying an additional 983,819 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 22,539.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 934,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $217,670,000 after buying an additional 930,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,703,000 after buying an additional 905,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at $4,876,970. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 17,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,380,645. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859 over the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ADP. Bank of America raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.1 %

ADP stock opened at $244.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $247.82 and a 200 day moving average of $239.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.46 and a 52 week high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 95.22% and a net margin of 19.14%. The business had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

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.