America First Investment Advisors LLC Trims Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

America First Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,129 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 108 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing accounts for approximately 5.5% of America First Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. America First Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $24,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $964,989,000 after acquiring an additional 435,093 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,548,165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $846,912,000 after purchasing an additional 139,561 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,556,377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $610,182,000 after purchasing an additional 9,464 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $640,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264,202 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,296,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $548,099,000 after purchasing an additional 269,986 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,816,946. This trade represents a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock worth $27,691,708. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ADP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America increased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.4 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $298.59 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $288.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a PEG ratio of 3.46 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 52 week low of $227.12 and a 52 week high of $309.37.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 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 company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.