Man Group plc Has $40.66 Million Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Man Group plc lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 56.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 178,693 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $40,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 121.8% in the 4th quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $303.55.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP opened at $309.41 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $297.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.59. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.27 and a 1-year high of $322.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $125.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.76% and a return on equity of 80.86%. The business had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 63.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,686,852.74. The trade was a 11.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 473 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total value of $144,832.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,112.80. This represents a 6.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,451 shares of company stock valued at $743,024. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.