Corton Capital Inc. Reduces Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Corton Capital Inc. cut its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 50.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 856 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 871 shares during the period. Corton Capital Inc.'s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 529,690 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $146,581,000 after acquiring an additional 22,766 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 12,644 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,701,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 48.3% in the 4th quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth $234,000. Finally, InvesTrust bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth $8,650,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $296.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $303.55.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ ADP traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $309.88. The company had a trading volume of 383,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,686,975. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $297.32 and a 200 day moving average of $299.46. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $322.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.88 EPS. Automatic Data Processing's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 473 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares in the company, valued at $2,218,112.80. This represents a 6.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024 over the last three months. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Automatic Data Processing

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.