Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Purchases 552 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 30,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 552 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $8,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Veracity Capital LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 0.9% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 32,473 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,874,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 10.0% in the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after buying an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC lifted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 19.7% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 4,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,867,000. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup boosted 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $277.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares in the company, valued at $23,959,908.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,816,946. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael A. Bonarti sold 26,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.96, for a total transaction of $7,164,724.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 88,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,959,908.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,817 shares of company stock worth $15,999,208 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP opened at $292.78 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $119.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.68, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $205.53 and a 1-year high of $294.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $280.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $259.38. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 89.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.50%.

Automatic Data Processing 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.