Midland Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Midland Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 24.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 291 shares during the quarter. Midland Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 92.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,935,000 after buying an additional 4,808 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $128,000. Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 26,983 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,899,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 29,378 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,600,000 after buying an additional 1,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $394,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value of $458,070.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at $2,158,682.96. This represents a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ADP. UBS Group lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Securities lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $305.64.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP stock opened at $318.57 on Tuesday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $329.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $306.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $302.73.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. The firm had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.05%.

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.