Raymond James Trust N.A. Sells 537 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Raymond James Trust N.A. trimmed its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,112 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 537 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $6,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $152,405,000 after purchasing an additional 264,466 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after buying an additional 5,114 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $470,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 20.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,440,548.48. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,946 shares of company stock worth $27,462,781 in the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 2.0 %

ADP opened at $304.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $227.12 and a twelve month high of $309.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $288.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.44.

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

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of 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. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

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.