Heritage Investors Management Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Heritage Investors Management Corp lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 71,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,944 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $21,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 31,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,619,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 71.4% during the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 10,337 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,158,000 after purchasing an additional 4,305 shares in the last quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. now owns 769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,836 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 49.4% during the 1st quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,386,000 after purchasing an additional 2,583 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on ADP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. TD Securities raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Automatic Data Processing to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $309.62.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $301.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $312.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $304.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.50 billion, a PE ratio of 30.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $245.80 and a one year high of $329.93.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 77.33% and a net margin of 19.79%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.