Brasada Capital Management LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Brasada Capital Management LP reduced its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 191 shares during the period. Brasada Capital Management LP’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $302.30.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 12,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total value of $704,869.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,007.90. The trade was a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,775 shares of company stock valued at $1,447,893 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ ADP opened at $292.89 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $322.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average is $300.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $298.26.

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

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

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.