Sargent Investment Group LLC Sells 400 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Sargent Investment Group LLC lowered its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 24.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Evolution Advisers Inc. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 106.0% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 173 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ADP shares. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $217.00 to $243.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $258.36.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $215,750.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP David Kwon sold 863 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $215,750.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 8,285 shares in the company, valued at $2,071,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total transaction of $90,899.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,162 shares of company stock valued at $3,741,859 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $243.07 on Monday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.53 and a fifty-two week high of $256.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $246.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.12. The company has a market capitalization of $99.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.14% and a return on equity of 95.22%. The business had revenue of $4.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

Automatic Data Processing 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.