Cullinan Associates Inc. Cuts Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Cullinan Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Accredited Investors Inc. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% in the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $640,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,264,202 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 28,478.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,194,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,305,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,407 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at about $160,920,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 332.3% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 623,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $172,497,000 after purchasing an additional 479,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,334,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,098,541,000 after buying an additional 424,328 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ADP shares. Mizuho raised 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. Barclays increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total transaction of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. The trade was a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $307.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.84. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $311.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.05, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

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.