New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $5.69 Million Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 19,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $5,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ADP. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 15,340 shares during the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the third quarter valued at approximately $470,000. Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $708,000. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of ADP opened at $308.15 on Friday. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $311.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $297.49 and its 200-day moving average is $288.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $125.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $2.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.05. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. Equities analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 payout ratio is 64.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Foskett sold 1,004 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.29, for a total value of $290,447.16. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ADP shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.55.

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.