Bank of New York Mellon Corp Lowers Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 6.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,556,985 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 534,361 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 1.85% of Automatic Data Processing worth $2,308,886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $11,923,265,000 after acquiring an additional 277,324 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,583,607 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,098,305,000 after purchasing an additional 65,965 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,174,419 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,807,438,000 after purchasing an additional 902,354 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,796,415,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,390 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,137,710,000 after purchasing an additional 219,032 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 7,364 shares in the company, valued at $2,158,682.96. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 13th. TD Securities lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $307.08.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP stock traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $308.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,635,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,713,391. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $329.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $125.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.57, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $312.50 and a 200-day moving average of $303.71.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 77.33% and a net margin of 19.79%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is 63.05%.

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.