Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Decreases Holdings in Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 50,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 45 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Automatic Data Processing were worth $12,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ADP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Automatic Data Processing during the 4th quarter valued at $308,321,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 22,539.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 934,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $217,670,000 after acquiring an additional 930,199 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,543,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $825,487,000 after acquiring an additional 649,791 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,576,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $855,287,000 after acquiring an additional 553,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Automatic Data Processing by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,596,142 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,224,713,000 after acquiring an additional 412,434 shares during the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Price Performance

NASDAQ:ADP traded down $1.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $234.49. The stock had a trading volume of 412,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,688,619. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $245.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $243.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.78. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a one year low of $205.53 and a one year high of $256.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.79 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.22 billion. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 93.09% and a net margin of 19.56%. Automatic Data Processing’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.52 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. Automatic Data Processing’s payout ratio is 62.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ADP has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $254.00 to $250.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Automatic Data Processing from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Automatic Data Processing from $280.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.42.

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.