Swiss National Bank Sells 40,600 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,288,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 40,600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $300,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,085,849,000 after buying an additional 198,008 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,028,000 after purchasing an additional 288,234 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,242,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,261,327,000 after purchasing an additional 77,187 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $855,287,000 after purchasing an additional 553,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 40.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,128,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,703,000 after purchasing an additional 905,043 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ADP. Bank of America upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $217.00 to $243.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $255.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,071,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $215,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,071,250. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,380,645. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,829 shares of company stock valued at $965,274. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.1 %

Automatic Data Processing stock traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $241.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,491,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,795,993. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $99.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $245.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.13. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $205.53 and a 1 year high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. The firm had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.52 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued 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 2.32%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

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.