Ninety One North America Inc. Decreases Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Ninety One North America Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 235,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 30,126 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing comprises 2.7% of Ninety One North America Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Ninety One North America Inc. owned about 0.06% of Automatic Data Processing worth $54,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Court Place Advisors LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC now owns 71,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,599,000 after buying an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 165,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,477,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 96.5% in the 4th quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 4,967 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439 shares during the period. Finally, Telos Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ADP. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Wolfe Research raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Mizuho raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.0 %

ADP traded down $0.05 during trading on Thursday, reaching $242.85. The stock had a trading volume of 281,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,803,365. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $247.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $99.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $201.46 and a one year high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 65.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,970. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,970. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 value of $90,899.68. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.