B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 1,502 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 5.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,150 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,502 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $7,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased 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 worth $6,352,000 after acquiring an additional 5,114 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the third quarter worth about $209,000. RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter worth approximately $470,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 5.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 280,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,750,000 after purchasing an additional 15,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 5.6% in the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 52,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,781 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ADP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Automatic Data Processing

In other Automatic Data Processing news, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of Automatic Data Processing stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. The trade was a 54.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of ADP stock opened at $296.76 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 fifty-two week low of $227.12 and a fifty-two week high of $309.63. The firm has a market cap of $120.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $297.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.56.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.83 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This is a boost from Automatic Data Processing’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.77%.

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.