Rockland Trust Co. Sells 3,871 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Rockland Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,871 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $21,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,682,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.6% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 23,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,621,000 after acquiring an additional 2,806 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter worth about $27,044,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 237.6% during the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 6,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 4,735 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ADP. Mizuho upped 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 note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $291.69 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $298.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.35. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The company has a market cap of $118.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $1.54 dividend. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.