Cannell & Spears LLC Trims Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Cannell & Spears LLC reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 85,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,109 shares during the period. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $25,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Financial LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 19,349 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,502 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 210.9% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 199 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 121,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,593,000 after buying an additional 9,976 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 45,309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth approximately $663,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ADP shares. UBS Group upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.30.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $300.83 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $303.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $296.45. 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 $322.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.58 billion, a PE ratio of 31.37, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. On average, analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total transaction of $290,447.16. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,958 shares in the company, valued at $1,723,589.82. This trade represents a 14.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.