Alpha Cubed Investments LLC, a prominent business services provider located in the United States, recently cut over three-quarters of its stake in Automatic Data Processing (ADP). According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Alpha Cubed held 1,095 shares of ADP but sold 3,421 shares during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. This transaction resulted in a decrease in their holdings worth approximately $262,000.
Following this news, several equities research analysts provided their insights on ADP’s stocks. In March 2023, Citigroup lowered ADP’s price objective from $260.00 to $235.00 in what was regarded as a significant decline. Barclays, on the other hand, downgraded ADP from $280.00 to 278.00 and gave an “overweight” rating on ADP stock.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., another company that provides financial services within the United States, took an even more critical stance against ADP as it lowered its price target from $253.00 to $245.00 and categorized ADP stocks as “underweight”. Mizuho also decreased their price target from $285.00 to $275.00 but maintained that investors should still consider buying ADP stocks.
Bank of America adopted a skeptical view of the situation by lowering their rating for ADP shareholders from “neutral” to “underperform”. They also cut the price target of these stocks from $249.00 to only $211.00.
As per Bloomberg.com’s analysis report on Wednesday, April 6th, two equities research analysts rated ADP stocks as sell while three touched upon buy ratings for them with one holding regarding it nothing but moderate risk. The average stock rating stood at “Hold”, with a consensus price estimated at around $243 per share.
At present levels (as reported by Bloomberg), Automatic Data Processing is trading at an opening value of $214.04 on Wednesday, April 6th, 2023. The business’s 50-day simple moving average has fallen to $221.19, while its 200-day simple moving average moves lower at $235.24. In contrast to its steep decline in price objectives in recent months, ADP still boasts a market capitalization of around $88.69 billion.
Considering the company’s PE ratio of 28.42 against a PEG ratio of just above two and a beta of 0.81, Automatic Data Processing had a low point at $196 during late last year but soon went up to an all-time high of $274 before falling again to these current levels. It certainly appears that investors are keeping one eye fixed on ADP stocks given the present global financial environment’s volatility and economic uncertainties long term due to new geopolitical trends globally.
Institutional Investors and Equity Research Analysts Closely Watch Automatic Data Processing’s Stock Amid Mixed Signals
Automatic Data Processing (ADP) is a business services provider company that has recently caught the attention of several institutional investors and hedge funds. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in ADP by 1.0% during the third quarter, while TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in the company by 8.1% in the same quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC and Emerald Advisors LLC have also increased their stakes in the last quarter.
Moreover, Well Done LLC raised its holding by 3.1%, demonstrating a positive trend among institutional investors towards ADP’s stock.
However, there have been some insider sales at ADP lately as well. VP Donald Weinstein sold 5,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,243,375 in January this year. Insider Carlos A. Rodriguez also sold 37,594 shares of the company’s stock for a total value of $9,071,056.
The recent news on ADP has caught the attention of several equity research analysts as well. Citigroup reduced its price objective from $260 to $235 in a report; Barclays lowered its target price from $280 to $278 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock; JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its price target from $253 to $245 and set an “underweight” rating on it; and Mizuho revised down their price target too.
Bank of America even lowered ADP from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” one and decreased its price target from $249 to $211 in a report published more recently.
Despite all these developments, Automatic Data Processing announced strong Q4 results with revenue up by 9.1% YoY, exceeding expectations.
Finally, there was good news for dividend-seeking investors as Automatic Data Processing issued a quarterly dividend payable on Saturday April 1st to shareholders of record as of Friday March 10th. The dividend paid was $1.25 per share, and the ex-dividend date was on Thursday, March 9th. The annualized dividend payout ratio stands at 66.4%.
Overall, ADP remains a company to watch closely by investors – with many displaying mixed feelings due to the ongoing fluctuations in equity research ratings and recent insider sales activity but also the strength shown by strong quarterly earnings reports and its solid dividend payouts.