Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) Shares Sold by Pitcairn Co.

Pitcairn Co. decreased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 6.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 757 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,867,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ADP. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4,431.5% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,315,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $640,712,000 after buying an additional 2,264,202 shares during the last quarter. BlueSpruce Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 1st quarter worth approximately $365,757,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 28,478.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,194,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,305,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,407 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 238.1% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 784,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,797,000 after purchasing an additional 552,096 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 242.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 644,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,749,000 after purchasing an additional 456,027 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $305.15 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $289.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $265.87. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $227.12 and a 12 month high of $309.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 59.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $872,254.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,440,548.48. The trade was a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 96,946 shares of company stock worth $27,462,781. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.