First Manhattan CO. LLC. Cuts Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 62,892 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 885 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.'s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $18,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FORA Capital LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 19,447 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,693,000 after purchasing an additional 8,872 shares during the period. Fullcircle Wealth LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $218,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 10,473 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,066,000 after buying an additional 1,721 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 96.2% in the 4th quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 208 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,487 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,583,000 after buying an additional 2,353 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ADP. TD Securities increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $296.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $303.55.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock traded up $0.92 during trading on Friday, reaching $308.01. 851,684 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,692,150. The company has a market capitalization of $125.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $322.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $299.31.

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

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is currently 63.05%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction of $458,070.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 473 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. The trade was a 6.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

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.