Hills Bank & Trust Co Sells 162 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Hills Bank & Trust Co lessened its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. US Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter worth about $1,349,000. Breed s Hill Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter worth about $444,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 55.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 7,366 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,716,000 after purchasing an additional 2,629 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 664,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $154,838,000 after buying an additional 12,635 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America upgraded 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho lifted their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $255.42.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Up 0.9 %

ADP traded up $2.21 on Thursday, hitting $245.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,020,238 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,245. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $205.53 and a 52-week high of $256.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.78.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.56% and a return on equity of 93.09%. The business had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.52 earnings per share. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 62.50%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $485,520.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 17,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Joseph Desilva sold 1,904 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $485,520.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 17,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,380,645. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.01, for a total value of $90,899.68. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,319 shares in the company, valued at $5,018,996.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,966 shares of company stock worth $749,524. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.