Blue Trust Inc. Decreases Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. $ADP

Blue Trust Inc. cut its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 16.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 869 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,949,884 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,511,418,000 after purchasing an additional 218,614 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,431,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,348,805,000 after purchasing an additional 601,400 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,031,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,231,809,000 after purchasing an additional 145,161 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,848,307 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,175,773,000 after purchasing an additional 77,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,059,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $934,647,000 after purchasing an additional 564,187 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ADP. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $315.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Wednesday. Dbs Bank upgraded Automatic Data Processing to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $316.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 8,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.43, for a total transaction of $2,604,697.04. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 80,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,032,866.33. This trade represents a 9.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Joseph Desilva sold 4,614 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.57, for a total transaction of $1,368,373.98. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 17,536 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,200,651.52. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 52,516 shares of company stock valued at $15,632,410 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $285.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $272.62 and a 12 month high of $329.93. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $297.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $303.06. The company has a market cap of $115.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.82.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.84% and a return on equity of 72.84%. The firm had revenue of $5.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Automatic Data Processing has set its FY 2026 guidance at 10.811-11.011 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.72%.

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.