America First Investment Advisors LLC Has $24.77 Million Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

America First Investment Advisors LLC cut its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 84,612 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,517 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing comprises about 5.4% of America First Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. America First Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $24,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,139 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 10.4% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 5,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,585,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $951,000. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 9,307 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth about $221,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $299.38 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $121.98 billion, a PE ratio of 31.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $303.41 and a 200-day moving average of $295.91. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $322.84. 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 (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 64.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ADP. UBS Group boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.18.

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.