BOSTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund investor William Ackman has taken a stake in payroll servicing company Automatic Data Processing Inc and dissolved his stake in restaurant chain Wendys and credit card issuer Visa .
Ackman's New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management owns 7.3 million shares of Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP, it said in a regulatory filing released on Friday .
The company, which reports nearly $9 billion in revenue, has seen its share price drop 1.53 percent since January.
Ackman, who cemented his activist reputation by prodding Wendys to sell its coffee chain unit, invests in only a handful stocks ranging from ADP to retailer Target.
He often targets underperforming stocks and tries to work with management to improve the business and share price.
During the quarter he dissolved his stake in Wendys, Yum Brands and Visa. He still owns bookseller Borders , data storage company EMC Corp, McDonald's and Target.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Robert MacMillan) Keywords: PERSHINGSQUARE/ (Svea.Herbst@Reuters.com; +1 617 856 4331; Reuters Messaging: svea.herbst.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Ackman's New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management owns 7.3 million shares of Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP, it said in a regulatory filing released on Friday .
The company, which reports nearly $9 billion in revenue, has seen its share price drop 1.53 percent since January.
Ackman, who cemented his activist reputation by prodding Wendys to sell its coffee chain unit, invests in only a handful stocks ranging from ADP to retailer Target.
He often targets underperforming stocks and tries to work with management to improve the business and share price.
During the quarter he dissolved his stake in Wendys, Yum Brands and Visa. He still owns bookseller Borders , data storage company EMC Corp, McDonald's and Target.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Robert MacMillan) Keywords: PERSHINGSQUARE/ (Svea.Herbst@Reuters.com; +1 617 856 4331; Reuters Messaging: svea.herbst.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.