Boltwood Capital Management Reduces Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Boltwood Capital Management lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,267 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 145 shares during the period. Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ADP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,923,265,000 after purchasing an additional 277,324 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,583,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,098,305,000 after purchasing an additional 65,965 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,174,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,807,438,000 after purchasing an additional 902,354 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,796,415,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,390 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,137,710,000 after purchasing an additional 219,032 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Securities upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.64.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $140,120.92. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,158,682.96. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024 in the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $326.21 on Thursday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $327.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $132.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $305.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $302.23.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 63.05%.

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.