Covestor Ltd Has $288,000 Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Covestor Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 982 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 85 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $1,830,000. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $226,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,299 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,043,000 after buying an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 214,797 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,441,000 after buying an additional 4,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,674,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP stock traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $295.17. The stock had a trading volume of 491,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,654,644. The company has a market cap of $120.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $297.29. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $322.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $302.30.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total value of $704,869.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $929,007.90. The trade was a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,364 shares of company stock worth $1,613,094 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is 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.