First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Reduces Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lowered its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 879 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $6,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 71.0% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 15,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,703,000 after acquiring an additional 6,439 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2,844.7% during the second quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 29,005 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,923,000 after purchasing an additional 28,020 shares in the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 4.3% during the second quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 1,895 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 35.7% during the second quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 4,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 14,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,549,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ADP shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ADP opened at $297.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $121.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $309.63. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $297.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $282.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.74%.

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.