Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Sells 248 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lowered its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.18.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $295.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $303.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $295.22. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $322.84. The stock has a market cap of $120.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total value of $290,447.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,958 shares in the company, valued at $1,723,589.82. The trade was a 14.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.