Hartford Investment Management Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 487 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $7,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22.9% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after buying an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 1,380 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 16.8% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 23,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,371,000 after purchasing an additional 3,313 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 127,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,306,000 after acquiring an additional 3,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GenWealth Group Inc. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth approximately $201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $305.78 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $297.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.34. The company has a market cap of $124.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $311.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. Equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.23%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were 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 directly 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.