Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Cuts Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates Ltd. reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. by 3.6%, now owning 32,192 shares valued at approximately $9.84 million.
• Other institutional investors significantly increased their positions, with GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its holdings by over 34,600% to own nearly 2.9 million shares worth about $886 million.
• Analyst ratings for ADP are mixed, with a consensus target price of $309.62, reflecting an average rating of “Hold” from a range of investment analysts.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. reduced its holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,192 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,201 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $9,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ADP. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 34,655.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,901,007 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $886,345,000 after buying an additional 2,892,660 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at about $455,993,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at about $396,714,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,796,415,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,174,419 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,807,438,000 after acquiring an additional 902,354 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Automatic Data Processing to a "hold" rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $309.62.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:ADP traded up $2.39 on Friday, hitting $308.63. The stock had a trading volume of 936,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,343,466. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $125.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $311.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $304.60. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.49 and a 1-year high of $329.93.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.79% and a return on equity of 77.33%. Automatic Data Processing's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.88 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.