Hills Bank & Trust Co Has $1.67 Million Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Hills Bank & Trust Co reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,717 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $1,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. 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. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $318.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.18.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ADP stock opened at $291.76 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.27 and a fifty-two week high of $322.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $302.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $294.44. The company has a market cap of $118.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.23%.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,951 shares of company stock worth $1,762,074 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.