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

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $2,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Main Street Group LTD grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 50.7% during the fourth quarter. Main Street Group LTD now owns 113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC lifted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 121.8% in the fourth quarter. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 58.1% in the first quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Christopher D’ambrosio sold 478 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total transaction of $140,120.92. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at $2,158,682.96. The trade was a 6.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,686,852.74. This represents a 11.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP stock opened at $298.19 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $121.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.52, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day moving average of $310.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $303.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $329.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 77.33% and a net margin of 19.79%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.88 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ADP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.08.

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.