Hills Bank & Trust Co Lowers Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Hills Bank & Trust Co reduced its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 35 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlueSpruce Investments LP purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 1st quarter valued at about $365,757,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 28,478.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,194,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,305,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,407 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in 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 worth $678,601,000 after purchasing an additional 589,831 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 238.1% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 784,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,797,000 after purchasing an additional 552,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,749,000 after purchasing an additional 456,027 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $282.00.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 1.2 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $289.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $281.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $259.59. The company has a market capitalization of $117.96 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.53 and a fifty-two week high of $294.18.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.77%.

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.