Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 487 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Hartford Investment Management Co. reduced its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 487 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $7,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,750,000 after acquiring an additional 15,340 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $470,000. Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,069,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at approximately $951,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ADP shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $305.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $311.67. The firm has a market cap of $124.59 billion, a PE ratio of 31.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.34.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. On average, research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,721.04. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.