Gotham Asset Management LLC Sells 6,256 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Gotham Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,882 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,256 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $23,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at about $708,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 529,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $146,581,000 after buying an additional 22,766 shares during the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 121.7% during the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 12,898 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,776,000 after buying an additional 7,080 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 67.9% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 6,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,805,000 after buying an additional 2,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 228,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $63,363,000 after acquiring an additional 2,203 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,158,682.96. The trade was a 6.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s 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

ADP stock opened at $308.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $297.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $299.18. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $322.84. The company has a market capitalization of $125.03 billion, a PE ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced 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 business had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 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.