West Paces Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

West Paces Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,230 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 58 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $752,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 28.5% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,995,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Suncoast Equity Management lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 97,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,602,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 43,553 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,206,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 46,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,892,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Mizuho lifted their price objective 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 raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADP traded up $0.13 on Tuesday, reaching $244.21. 1,395,727 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,832,796. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.46 and a 12 month high of $256.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $100.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $247.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $239.13.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $215,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the firm’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 owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 transaction of $485,520.00. Following 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 sold a total of 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.