Cypress Capital Group Cuts Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Cypress Capital Group cut its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,639 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 102 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $640,712,000 after buying an additional 2,264,202 shares during the last quarter. BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at $365,757,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,190,407 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 238.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 552,096 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised 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 valued at $153,749,000 after acquiring an additional 456,027 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $298.59 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $288.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $265.16. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $227.12 and a 52-week high of $309.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 59.77%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $5,253,553.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares in the company, valued at $25,464,384.66. This trade represents a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708. Corporate 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.