Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Lowers Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,627 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 387 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 1st quarter worth about $365,757,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 28,478.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,194,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,305,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,407 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised 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 valued at $678,601,000 after acquiring an additional 589,831 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 238.1% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 784,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $195,797,000 after purchasing an additional 552,096 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,749,000 after purchasing an additional 456,027 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ADP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $285.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,959,908.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,816,946. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.4 %

ADP stock opened at $288.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $281.57 and a 200-day moving average of $259.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $211.52 and a one year high of $294.18.

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 $2.20 by $0.13. 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.98 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.77%.

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.