Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Cuts Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,666 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,002 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Independent Wealth Network Inc. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at about $204,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at about $287,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 14,380 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,591,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at about $59,387,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.0% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 53,422 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,328,000 after purchasing an additional 6,155 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,440,548.48. This trade represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 70,504 shares of company stock worth $20,298,056 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of ADP opened at $306.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $125.06 billion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s fifty day moving average is $291.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.31. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $227.12 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. Analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on ADP shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

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.