Balentine LLC Decreases Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. $ADP

Balentine LLC cut its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 46.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,941 shares during the quarter. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter worth approximately $661,771,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 128.1% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,585,704 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $484,480,000 after acquiring an additional 890,440 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 15.7% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,431,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,348,805,000 after acquiring an additional 601,400 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,059,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $934,647,000 after acquiring an additional 564,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 110.1% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 608,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $186,067,000 after acquiring an additional 319,132 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 597 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.90, for a total value of $177,249.30. Following the sale, the vice president owned 10,541 shares in the company, valued at $3,129,622.90. The trade was a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 13,599 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.57, for a total transaction of $4,033,055.43. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 17,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,244,543.88. This trade represents a 43.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 52,516 shares of company stock valued at $15,632,410 over the last quarter. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on ADP shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Automatic Data Processing to a “hold” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $340.00 to $295.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $315.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $312.67.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $260.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $289.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $301.25. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $258.19 and a 52-week high of $329.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $2.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.44 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.79% and a return on equity of 70.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.811-11.011 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 60.81%.

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.