Cannell & Spears LLC Has $25.15 Million Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Cannell & Spears LLC decreased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,914 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,109 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $25,150,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,923,265,000 after purchasing an additional 277,324 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,334,580 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,098,541,000 after purchasing an additional 424,328 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,517,642 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,906,257,000 after purchasing an additional 286,080 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,120,039 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $910,972,000 after purchasing an additional 449,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,321,849 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $679,675,000 after purchasing an additional 69,042 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADP traded down $10.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $294.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,346,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,623,003. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $304.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $296.98. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $322.84. The company has a market capitalization of $120.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,686,852.74. This represents a 11.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,368 shares of company stock valued at $1,903,541 over the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is 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.