Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Decreases Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,810 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 192 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlueSpruce Investments LP bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 1st quarter worth approximately $365,757,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 27.7% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,715,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $678,601,000 after buying an additional 589,831 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 238.1% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 784,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $195,797,000 after buying an additional 552,096 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,749,000 after acquiring an additional 456,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $964,989,000 after acquiring an additional 435,093 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ADP. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $267.83.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.2 %

Automatic Data Processing stock traded up $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $287.49. The company had a trading volume of 29,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,628,513. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $205.53 and a 1-year high of $288.50. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $255.02. The stock has a market cap of $117.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 89.20%. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.47%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of Automatic Data Processing 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total value of $7,164,724.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 88,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208 in the last 90 days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing 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.