Carnegie Investment Counsel Has $3.03 Million Stock Position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 55.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,708 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the 3rd 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. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 78.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total value of $210,236.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $296.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $298.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.57.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. 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 company earned $2.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued 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 2.08%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.74%.

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.