Carnegie Investment Counsel Purchases 3,708 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 55.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,708 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $3,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,044,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 237.6% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 6,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,606,000 after buying an additional 4,735 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 10.2% during the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 1,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter worth $314,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Automatic Data Processing during the second quarter worth $1,032,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on ADP shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $289.91.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $296.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $231.27 and a 52 week high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $298.07 and a 200-day moving average of $279.57.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, CEO Maria Black sold 721 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.59, for a total transaction of $210,236.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,077,721.04. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,129 shares of company stock worth $12,604,872 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.