Buffington Mohr McNeal Cuts Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Buffington Mohr McNeal trimmed its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 27.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marotta Asset Management lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Marotta Asset Management now owns 1,395 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 159 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 8,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Signet Financial Management LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 3,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $857,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 8,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,995,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ADP. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Bank of America raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.58.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.2 %

ADP traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $244.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 597,134 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,821,583. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $201.46 and a fifty-two week high of $256.84. The stock has a market cap of $100.44 billion, a PE ratio of 28.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day moving average is $247.82 and its 200-day moving average is $239.13. 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 (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing 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 transaction of $90,899.68. Following 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,996.19. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares in the company, valued at $4,380,645. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,162 shares of company stock worth $3,741,859 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.