Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 10.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ADP. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 34,655.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,901,007 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $886,345,000 after buying an additional 2,892,660 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at about $455,993,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at about $396,714,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 1,299,390 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at about $342,942,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $321.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a report on Thursday, June 5th. TD Securities raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $298.00 to $321.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $323.00 to $315.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $307.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 478 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.14, for a total value of $140,120.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total value 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 approximately $3,686,852.74. This trade represents a 11.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of ADP traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $303.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,931,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,714,766. The firm has a market cap of $123.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.06, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $310.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $303.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $329.93.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $5.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $2.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is presently 63.05%.

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.