Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 1,384 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 528,210 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,384 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Automatic Data Processing worth $161,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 11.0% during the first quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 7,938 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,316,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.8% during the first quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 172,448 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $52,688,000 after purchasing an additional 6,338 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.7% during the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,958 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,284,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 15,446 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,719,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Latitude Advisors LLC raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 15.2% in the first quarter. Latitude Advisors LLC now owns 895 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of Automatic Data Processing 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 directly owned 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ADP. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $307.08.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADP traded up $3.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $308.96. 1,393,190 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,713,506. The business's 50-day moving average price is $312.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $303.53. The company has a market cap of $125.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.76. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $231.27 and a 12-month high of $329.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.99%. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is presently 63.05%.

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.