Great Diamond Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Great Diamond Partners LLC lowered its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 135 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing comprises approximately 0.9% of Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,750,000 after acquiring an additional 15,340 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $470,000. Dash Acquisitions Inc. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at $951,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ADP. Mizuho boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.27.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ ADP opened at $303.01 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $311.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $123.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $297.20 and a 200 day moving average of $283.90.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 81.85% and a net margin of 19.76%. Research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 in the last 90 days. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.