United Community Bank Sells 4,598 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

United Community Bank reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 85.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 812 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,598 shares during the period. United Community Bank’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at about $308,321,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22,539.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 934,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $217,670,000 after purchasing an additional 930,199 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,543,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $825,487,000 after purchasing an additional 649,791 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,715,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $678,601,000 after acquiring an additional 589,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,596,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,224,713,000 after acquiring an additional 412,434 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ADP. Barclays lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $253.00 to $251.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of ADP traded down $1.78 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $232.93. The stock had a trading volume of 224,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,675,009. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $244.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $205.53 and a 1-year high of $256.84.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 93.09%. The business had revenue of $5.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.