New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 600 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ADP. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 346.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Automatic Data Processing in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ ADP opened at $308.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $288.00. The company has a market capitalization of $125.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 12 month low of $231.27 and a 12 month high of $311.67.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total transaction of $290,447.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,723,589.82. This trade represents a 14.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total value of $106,366.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,027,233.98. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241 over the last ninety days. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.