Argent Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Argent Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 98,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,867 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $28,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ADP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $293.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $119.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $298.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $279.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1 year low of $231.27 and a 1 year high of $309.63.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ADP. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,756,961. This represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.