Sapient Capital LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Sapient Capital LLC reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 10.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,596,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,224,713,000 after acquiring an additional 412,434 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,670,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,085,849,000 after acquiring an additional 198,008 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,902,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,028,000 after acquiring an additional 288,234 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,492,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,279,570,000 after acquiring an additional 249,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $855,287,000 after acquiring an additional 553,946 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.8 %

ADP traded down $2.06 on Tuesday, reaching $241.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,944,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,787,675. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $246.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $239.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $99.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.53 and a fifty-two week high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 95.22% and a net margin of 19.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.19%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total value of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,162 shares of company stock valued at $3,741,859 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Wolfe Research raised Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $258.36.

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.