Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD Has $7.01 Million Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD lessened its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 585 shares during the quarter. Automatic Data Processing accounts for about 2.4% of Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $7,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,769,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,932,020,000 after purchasing an additional 173,298 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $964,989,000 after buying an additional 435,093 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,625,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $905,354,000 after acquiring an additional 81,869 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,548,165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $846,912,000 after acquiring an additional 139,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 27.7% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,816,946. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 58,817 shares of company stock valued at $15,999,208. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ ADP traded down $1.51 during trading on Thursday, reaching $291.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 340,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,626,599. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $280.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $259.38. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $205.53 and a 12 month high of $294.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 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 0.66.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 89.20% and a net margin of 19.54%. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $277.64.

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.