Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Sells 44 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lowered its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 145,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 44 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $42,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $209,000. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at about $708,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 15,340 shares during the period. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth approximately $470,000. Finally, 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 acquiring an additional 2,781 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ADP. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $311.97 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $298.44 and its 200 day moving average is $289.74. The stock has a market cap of $127.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $313.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.