Belmont Capital LLC Sells 2,167 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Belmont Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 50.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,115 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,167 shares during the quarter. Belmont Capital LLC's holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 1.7% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 26,610 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,352,000 after purchasing an additional 5,114 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the 3rd quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 2,917.1% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 4,224 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,084 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Automatic Data Processing news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total transaction of $2,479,748.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 36,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,899,862.45. The trade was a 20.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $11,692,500.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,792 shares of company stock valued at $27,691,708 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADP traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $297.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,741,746 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,631,244. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $121.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $227.12 and a twelve month high of $309.37. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $264.93.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.08 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. This is a positive change from Automatic Data Processing's previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is currently 59.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $289.91.

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.