Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 25,760 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. reduced its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,057,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25,760 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.26% of Automatic Data Processing worth $246,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ardent Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth about $392,000. Americana Partners LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 22,228 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,330,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,613,000 after purchasing an additional 5,318 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth about $1,635,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC now owns 2,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,662 shares of company stock valued at $4,094,554 in the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wolfe Research raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $243.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $239.12. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $201.46 and a 52-week high of $256.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.17 billion, a PE ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 declared 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. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

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.