Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,165 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 272 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 57,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,951,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 18,559 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,433,000 after buying an additional 2,040 shares during the last quarter. Newton One Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 4,106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ADP. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. 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 report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total value of $704,869.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,063 shares in the company, valued at $929,007.90. The trade was a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,478 shares of company stock valued at $1,617,241 in the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $305.97 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $297.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $285.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $311.67. The company has a market capitalization of $124.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.23%.

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.