Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. Trims Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 8.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the third quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the second quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 22.1% in the third quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Wealth Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP traded down $1.73 during trading on Monday, reaching $290.56. The company had a trading volume of 246,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,629,394. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $276.64 and its 200 day moving average is $256.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.92 billion, a PE ratio of 32.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $205.53 and a twelve month high of $294.18.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 89.20% and a net margin of 19.54%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is presently 62.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at $9,899,862.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,440,548.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares in the company, valued at $9,899,862.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208 over the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $267.83.

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.