Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA Has $78.05 Million Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA reduced its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 335,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,996 shares during the period. Automatic Data Processing accounts for about 5.6% of Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA owned about 0.08% of Automatic Data Processing worth $78,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 22,539.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 934,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $217,670,000 after acquiring an additional 930,199 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,703,000 after acquiring an additional 905,043 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 65.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,402,511 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $337,416,000 after buying an additional 555,184 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $855,287,000 after buying an additional 553,946 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at about $107,401,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.7 %

ADP traded up $1.64 during trading on Friday, reaching $246.79. The company had a trading volume of 206,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,748,519. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $205.53 and a 12-month high of $256.84. The company has a market cap of $101.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $245.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.02.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. 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 report on Wednesday, January 17th. Mizuho upped their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.42.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total transaction of $173,104.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,159,958.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.43, for a total value of $173,104.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,687 shares in the company, valued at $5,159,958.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,966 shares of company stock worth $749,524. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.