Brave Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Brave Asset Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 389 shares during the quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $77,750,000 after purchasing an additional 15,340 shares during the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at $470,000. Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% in the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $951,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 in the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.6 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $293.37 on Thursday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $309.63. The stock has a market cap of $119.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $298.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.35.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.74%.

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.