LS Investment Advisors LLC Sells 830 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

LS Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,697 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 830 shares during the period. LS Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $8,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Main Street Group LTD lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 50.7% during the 4th quarter. Main Street Group LTD now owns 113 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 121.8% during the fourth quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 122 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ADP. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $305.64.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ ADP traded up $0.58 on Friday, reaching $326.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,183,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,707,618. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $329.78. 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 firm has a market cap of $132.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $305.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.43.

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, 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.88 EPS. The company's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is presently 63.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $140,120.92. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,158,682.96. This trade represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024. 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.