Longview Financial Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Longview Financial Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 6.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 861 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 63 shares during the period. Longview Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlueSpruce Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 1st quarter valued at about $365,757,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,715,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $678,601,000 after acquiring an additional 589,831 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 238.1% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 784,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $195,797,000 after buying an additional 552,096 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $153,749,000 after buying an additional 456,027 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $964,989,000 after buying an additional 435,093 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.1 %

ADP traded up $0.33 on Friday, hitting $292.29. 2,738,202 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,636,240. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $276.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $205.53 and a 12 month high of $294.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.63 billion, a PE ratio of 32.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 89.20% and a net margin of 19.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,816,946. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total transaction of $7,164,724.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at $23,959,908.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,816,946. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given 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 an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $267.83.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.