Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. Sells 105 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,314 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 6.5% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 83,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,989,000 after purchasing an additional 5,077 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 2,251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $623,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Evanson Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 28.0% in the third quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC now owns 1,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% during the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,170 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $877,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $308.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $285.67. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $311.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, 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 transaction of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,478 shares of company stock valued at $1,617,241 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.21% 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.