Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 22.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,682,523 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 789,297 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.66% of Automatic Data Processing worth $785,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 277,324 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,583,607 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,098,305,000 after acquiring an additional 65,965 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,137,710,000 after purchasing an additional 219,032 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,120,039 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $910,972,000 after purchasing an additional 449,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have commented on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $302.30.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Automatic Data Processing
Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing
In other news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 473 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total value of $144,832.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. This represents a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. This represents a 11.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,364 shares of company stock worth $1,613,094. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance
NASDAQ ADP traded up $7.33 on Friday, hitting $299.54. 2,187,994 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,671,064. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $302.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $297.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $322.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74.
Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.23%.
About Automatic Data Processing
(
Free Report)
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.
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