Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 1,127 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,074 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,127 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.1% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.4% during the third quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,698 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 4.4% in the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ADP. 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased 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 note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ ADP opened at $297.64 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $227.12 and a one year high of $309.37. 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 company has a market capitalization of $121.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $287.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.87.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 59.77%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Don Mcguire sold 3,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.38, for a total transaction of $872,254.02. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,440,548.48. This represents a 7.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,816,946. This represents a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708 over the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.