First Horizon Advisors Inc. Has $2.43 Million Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 145 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $152,405,000 after buying an additional 264,466 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 247,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,804,000 after purchasing an additional 4,253 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,352,000 after purchasing an additional 5,114 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at about $209,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,084 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $298.59 on Thursday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.12 and a 12 month high of $309.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $288.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $265.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The trade was a 20.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on ADP shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

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.