Portfolio Design Labs LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Portfolio Design Labs LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 80.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,875 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 7,505 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NS Partners Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 90,361 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $25,006,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331 shares in the last quarter. MWA Asset Management raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 2,464 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth $273,000. West Family Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 23.0% during the third quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,557 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Second Half Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at about $204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 20.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total transaction of $7,164,724.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. This represents a 23.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.4 %

Automatic Data Processing stock traded up $1.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $298.59. The company had a trading volume of 2,158,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,633,587. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $288.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $264.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $121.66 billion, a PE ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.12 and a 12 month high of $309.37.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. This is an increase from Automatic Data Processing's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ADP. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $289.91.

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.