California State Teachers Retirement System Purchases 5,259 Shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP)

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 676,821 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,259 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.17% of Automatic Data Processing worth $198,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,731,270 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $11,923,265,000 after purchasing an additional 277,324 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,583,607 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,098,305,000 after purchasing an additional 65,965 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,174,419 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,807,438,000 after purchasing an additional 902,354 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,136,763 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,796,415,000 after buying an additional 1,299,390 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Automatic Data Processing by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,886,552 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,137,710,000 after buying an additional 219,032 shares in the last quarter. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Automatic Data Processing Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ADP traded down $1.91 on Thursday, reaching $298.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,667,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,687,406. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $298.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $298.55. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.27 and a twelve month high of $322.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.09. Automatic Data Processing had a return on equity of 80.86% and a net margin of 19.76%. The firm had revenue of $5.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Automatic Data Processing, Inc. will post 9.93 EPS for the current year.

Automatic Data Processing Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $1.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $6.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Automatic Data Processing's payout ratio is presently 64.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ADP shares. TD Securities raised their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $296.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Automatic Data Processing from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Automatic Data Processing in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Automatic Data Processing from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Automatic Data Processing from $325.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $301.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Christopher D'ambrosio sold 473 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.20, for a total transaction of $144,832.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,244 shares in the company, valued at $2,218,112.80. This represents a 6.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Brian L. Michaud sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.38, for a total transaction of $458,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,686,852.74. This represents a 11.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,775 shares of company stock valued at $1,447,893 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

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.