ADT (NYSE:ADT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Should You Buy?

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday . 5,108,910 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the previous session’s volume of 5,392,902 shares.The stock last traded at $7.64 and had previously closed at $7.60.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ADT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of ADT from $8.20 to $9.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

ADT Stock Performance

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’s fifty day moving average price is $7.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.27. The company has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of 8.14 and a beta of 1.52.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. ADT had a return on equity of 17.77% and a net margin of 18.18%. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that ADT Inc. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a $0.055 dividend. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. ADT’s payout ratio is 23.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ADT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ADT by 10.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,406,307 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $237,930,000 after acquiring an additional 3,427,575 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in ADT by 246.8% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 192,468 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $1,293,000 after purchasing an additional 136,977 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in ADT by 8,206.7% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 3,228,796 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $21,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,926 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in ADT by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 170,883 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $1,299,000 after buying an additional 6,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,143,000. 87.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.