American Century Companies Inc. Has $138.21 Million Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 472,131 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,263 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.12% of Automatic Data Processing worth $138,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,334,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,098,541,000 after acquiring an additional 424,328 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,517,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,906,257,000 after acquiring an additional 286,080 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,238,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,197,000 after acquiring an additional 41,709 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,120,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $910,972,000 after acquiring an additional 449,431 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,321,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $679,675,000 after acquiring an additional 69,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares in the company, valued at $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.7 %

ADP opened at $295.32 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $322.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $303.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $295.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.