CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Trims Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lessened its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 23.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,148 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,231 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at about $455,993,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $396,714,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at $342,942,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 41,710.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,090,422 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $319,199,000 after buying an additional 1,087,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,120,039 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $910,972,000 after buying an additional 449,431 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $296.00 to $298.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $303.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at $2,158,682.96. The trade was a 6.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total value of $704,869.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $929,007.90. The trade was a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 4,775 shares of company stock worth $1,447,893. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP traded up $5.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $304.39. The stock had a trading volume of 357,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,682,313. The business has a fifty day moving average of $298.38 and a 200 day moving average of $298.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $124.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.74, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $322.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.88 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is 64.23%.

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.