Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 2,434 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,434 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $7,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $152,405,000 after purchasing an additional 264,466 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 247,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,804,000 after purchasing an additional 4,253 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,352,000 after buying an additional 5,114 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at $209,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $997,000 after buying an additional 4,084 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on ADP. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $289.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total value of $228,927.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,816,946. The trade was a 7.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,792 shares of company stock worth $27,691,708. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $297.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $121.28 billion, a PE ratio of 31.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $287.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $263.87. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12-month low of $227.12 and a 12-month high of $309.37.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.77 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.72% and a return on equity of 82.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

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

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.