Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 197,948 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,901 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $58,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Automatic Data Processing by 2.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 18,334,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,098,541,000 after buying an additional 424,328 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,517,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,906,257,000 after acquiring an additional 286,080 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,065,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $964,989,000 after acquiring an additional 435,093 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,548,165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $846,912,000 after acquiring an additional 139,561 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,238,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,197,000 after purchasing an additional 41,709 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.03% of the company’s stock.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADP opened at $298.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $121.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $309.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $297.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.12. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 82.36% and a net margin of 19.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Automatic Data Processing’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ADP. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $267.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $289.91.

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In other news, VP David Foskett sold 1,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.15, for a total value of $305,322.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,756,961. This trade represents a 14.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Sreenivasa Kutam sold 38,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $11,692,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 32,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,781,200. This represents a 54.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 42,129 shares of company stock valued at $12,604,872. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.