Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 1,686 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,686 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $13,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADP. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Automatic Data Processing by 14.2% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 801,857 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $200,256,000 after purchasing an additional 99,515 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Automatic Data Processing by 70.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 638,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $152,405,000 after buying an additional 264,466 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Automatic Data Processing by 195.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 51,607 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,888,000 after buying an additional 34,118 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Automatic Data Processing during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,924,000. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 23.8% during the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 3,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Automatic Data Processing

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ADP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their price target on Automatic Data Processing from $282.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $250.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $265.36.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

Shares of Automatic Data Processing stock opened at $276.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $113.13 billion, a PE ratio of 30.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day moving average of $264.76 and a 200 day moving average of $251.56. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.53 and a 52 week high of $281.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The business services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.74 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a net margin of 19.54% and a return on equity of 89.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.50%.

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.