Short Interest in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Declines By 12.1%

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,560,000 shares, a decline of 12.1% from the March 15th total of 5,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,870,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ADP shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock traded up $0.53 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $244.61. 195,933 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,815,823. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $247.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.13. Automatic Data Processing has a twelve month low of $201.46 and a twelve month high of $256.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $100.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 95.22% and a net margin of 19.14%. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing will post 9.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 65.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,071,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,162 shares of company stock valued at $3,741,859 in the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Automatic Data Processing

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 134,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,532,000 after buying an additional 21,671 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter worth $571,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 12.4% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 453 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 82.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 636 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.