New England Professional Planning Group Inc. Sells 128 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

New England Professional Planning Group Inc. reduced its position in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 705 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 128 shares during the period. New England Professional Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at Automatic Data Processing

In related news, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.83, for a total transaction of $106,366.46. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 13,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,027,233.98. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Jonathan S. Lehberger sold 2,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.30, for a total value of $704,869.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,063 shares in the company, valued at $929,007.90. This represents a 43.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,478 shares of company stock worth $1,617,241 in the last quarter. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ADP. Mizuho raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $281.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut Automatic Data Processing from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.55.

Automatic Data Processing Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP opened at $310.76 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $298.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.27 and a 52-week high of $313.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.79.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last issued its 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%. Analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.54 per share. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is currently 64.23%.

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.