Valley National Advisers Inc. Lowers Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Valley National Advisers Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 140 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 134,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,532,000 after buying an additional 21,671 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 1st quarter valued at about $571,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 453 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 82.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 636 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ADP. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.7 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $246.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $201.46 and a 1-year high of $256.84. The company has a market cap of $101.32 billion, a PE ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $247.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.95.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 95.22% and a net margin of 19.14%. The firm had revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,996.19. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total value of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,996.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,380,645. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,662 shares of company stock worth $4,094,554. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.