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

Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 8.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Prentiss Smith & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% in the 2nd 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 boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 22.1% during 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. lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 5.0% in the second quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ADP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $267.83.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ADP traded down $1.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $290.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 246,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,629,394. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $276.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $256.99. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $205.53 and a 12-month high of $294.18. The stock has a market cap of $118.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.46, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

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

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid 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 62.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total value of $7,164,724.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,959,908.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total value of $872,254.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,440,548.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total transaction of $7,164,724.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.