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

Advisors Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,531 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,493 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $14,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,366 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,282 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,717,000 after acquiring an additional 827 shares during the last quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $507,000. Finally, Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at $120,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $296.18.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074 in the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.7 %

ADP stock traded down $2.19 on Friday, hitting $295.32. 3,951,110 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,460,596. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $322.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $303.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $295.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $120.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.23%.

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.