ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) Short Interest Update

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,650,000 shares, an increase of 33.1% from the December 15th total of 16,260,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ADT shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of ADT from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of ADT from $8.20 to $9.20 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

ADT Stock Performance

ADT stock opened at $7.26 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $7.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 1.51. ADT has a 12-month low of $6.09 and a 12-month high of $8.25.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. ADT had a return on equity of 17.77% and a net margin of 18.18%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.07 earnings per share. ADT’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that ADT will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th were paid a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. ADT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.91%.

Institutional Trading of ADT

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ADT in the 2nd quarter worth about $195,461,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in ADT by 61.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,359,752 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $93,937,000 after buying an additional 4,705,544 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in ADT by 75.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,862,453 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $59,755,000 after buying an additional 3,370,550 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in ADT by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,875,140 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $42,487,000 after buying an additional 1,543,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its position in shares of ADT by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 30,360,559 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $230,740,000 after acquiring an additional 780,762 shares in the last quarter. 87.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ADT

ADT Inc provides security, interactive, and smart home solutions to residential and small business customers in the United States. It operates through two segments, Consumer and Small Business, and Solar. The company provides burglar and life safety alarms, smart security cameras, smart home automation systems, and video surveillance systems.