Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. Sells 1,950 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 204,472 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,950 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing comprises approximately 1.6% of Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $59,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth about $708,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased 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 worth $77,750,000 after acquiring an additional 15,340 shares during the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at about $470,000. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at about $951,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 51.1% during the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 18,925 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,236,000 after purchasing an additional 6,399 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.6 %

ADP opened at $294.18 on Thursday. 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. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $302.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.33. The company has a market cap of $119.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced 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, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their target price 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 reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a 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 stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. This trade represents a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,951 shares of company stock valued at $1,762,074 over the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.