Atwood & Palmer Inc. Sells 1,900 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. $ADP

Atwood & Palmer Inc. reduced its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 53.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,639 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. Thrive Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.5% in the second quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. now owns 5,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 3,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $875,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 4,122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 631 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.87, for a total value of $178,490.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 18,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,324,744.88. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 29,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $8,373,927.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 80,624 shares in the company, valued at $22,648,087.84. This trade represents a 26.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 33,773 shares of company stock valued at $9,450,629. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ADP shares. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $230.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $248.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $273.50.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock traded up $6.73 on Thursday, hitting $270.73. 1,793,292 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,902,825. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $271.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.83. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.16 and a 1-year high of $291.34.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.44 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 71.34% and a net margin of 20.11%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.26 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing has set its FY 2027 guidance at 12.120-12.340 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

About Automatic Data Processing

Automatic Data Processing, Inc (NASDAQ: ADP) is a provider of human capital management and business outsourcing solutions. The company helps organizations manage payroll, tax withholding and compliance, employee benefits, time and attendance, workforce management, talent acquisition, and human resources administration.

ADP offers cloud-based platforms and related services designed for businesses of different sizes, from small companies to large multinational employers. Its offerings include payroll and HR software, workforce analytics, talent management tools, retirement and insurance-related administration, and professional employer organization services through ADP TotalSource.