Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Reduces Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. reduced its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 252,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,117 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $69,857,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $152,405,000 after purchasing an additional 264,466 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,352,000 after buying an additional 5,114 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $209,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 4,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $470,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $306.93 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $227.12 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average is $292.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $1.54 dividend. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 59.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at $11,440,548.48. This trade represents a 7.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Maria Black sold 19,147 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $5,253,553.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,464,384.66. This represents a 17.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 70,504 shares of company stock valued at $20,298,056 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ADP. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

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.