Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Decreases Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 86,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,135 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $25,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ADP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $297.51 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $302.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $295.08. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $322.84. The company has a market cap of $121.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.02, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ADP. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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. UBS Group upped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. This represents a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,951 shares of company stock valued at $1,762,074 over the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.