Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 171 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 173,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 171 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $50,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the second quarter worth approximately $27,044,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 237.6% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 6,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 24,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ ADP traded up $0.66 during trading on Thursday, hitting $294.03. The company had a trading volume of 193,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,493,649. The company’s fifty day moving average is $298.48 and its 200-day moving average is $279.35. The company has a market cap of $119.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $231.27 and a one year high of $309.63.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 65.74%.

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.