Legal & General Group Plc Has $785.26 Million Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 22.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,682,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 789,297 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $785,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 121.8% during the 4th quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 6.3 %

ADP stock opened at $286.13 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $116.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $322.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $304.41 and a 200-day moving average of $297.30.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price 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. One analyst has 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.30.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,756,961. This represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total transaction of $704,869.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $929,007.90. The trade was a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,364 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,094. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

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.