IFG Advisory LLC Trims Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

IFG Advisory LLC decreased its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,606 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. IFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,772,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 3,093 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $721,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares during the period. Waterway Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $233,000. PFG Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $681,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 42,853 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,083,000 after buying an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 600,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $140,002,000 after buying an additional 233,789 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, November 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.08.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

ADP stock opened at $248.33 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $246.22 and a 200-day moving average of $238.91. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.46 and a 12-month high of $256.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $102.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.91, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The company had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.96 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,876,970. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $215,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 8,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,071,250. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 11,333 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $2,776,585.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,906 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,876,970. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,662 shares of company stock worth $4,094,554 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.26% 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.