US Asset Management LLC Sells 539 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

US Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 9.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,251 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 539 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing accounts for about 1.2% of US Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. US Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,596,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,224,713,000 after buying an additional 412,434 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,420,028,000 after buying an additional 288,234 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,492,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,279,570,000 after buying an additional 249,566 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $855,287,000 after buying an additional 553,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,543,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $825,487,000 after buying an additional 649,791 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of ADP traded up $1.65 on Thursday, reaching $246.06. The stock had a trading volume of 1,954,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,666,120. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $245.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.29. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $205.53 and a 12-month high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.17 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 62.50%.

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.