State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 83,471 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 35.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 150,702 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 83,471 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $35,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADP. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Automatic Data Processing by 105.2% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 1,034 shares during the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 90,639 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,116,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,730 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,460,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. Finally, Navellier & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 2,096 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $271.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $267.00 price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $265.36.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ADP opened at $278.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $259.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $250.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.53 and a fifty-two week high of $279.58. The firm has a market cap of $113.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.07, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 89.20% and a net margin of 19.54%. The company had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Automatic Data Processing’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 10.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is 62.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Automatic Data Processing news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,899,862.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Carlos A. Rodriguez sold 9,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.45, for a total value of $2,479,748.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 36,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,899,862.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Kwon sold 846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.60, for a total transaction of $228,927.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,816,946. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,817 shares of company stock valued at $15,999,208 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Automatic Data Processing Company 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.