Hills Bank & Trust Co Cuts Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Hills Bank & Trust Co trimmed its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 35 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,769,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,932,020,000 after buying an additional 173,298 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $964,989,000 after buying an additional 435,093 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,625,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $905,354,000 after purchasing an additional 81,869 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,548,165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $846,912,000 after purchasing an additional 139,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 27.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,715,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $678,601,000 after purchasing an additional 589,831 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADP has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $282.00.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 1.2 %

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $289.24 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $281.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $259.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $117.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $205.53 and a twelve month high of $294.18.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.13. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,816,946. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total value of $7,164,724.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at $23,959,908.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.