Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. decreased its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter valued at $27,044,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 237.6% during the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 6,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.3% during the second quarter. Financial & Tax Architects LLC now owns 24,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,868,000 after buying an additional 1,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,111 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. This trade represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ADP. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. UBS Group upped their price objective on 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 upped their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ ADP traded up $0.66 on Thursday, hitting $294.03. 193,979 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,493,649. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $298.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $279.35.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio 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.