Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Sells 100,554 Shares of ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. lowered its stake in ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) by 85.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,446 shares of the security and automation business’s stock after selling 100,554 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.’s holdings in ADT were worth $126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADT. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of ADT by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 30,941,509 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $223,707,000 after purchasing an additional 5,222,972 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in ADT by 3.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 170,883 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $1,299,000 after acquiring an additional 6,078 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of ADT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,143,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,226,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC boosted its holdings in ADT by 2.6% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 30,360,559 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $230,740,000 after buying an additional 780,762 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on ADT. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on ADT from $8.20 to $9.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

ADT Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of ADT opened at $7.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 1.49. ADT Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.02 and a 52 week high of $8.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.37 and a 200-day moving average of $7.35.

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

ADT Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be issued a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. ADT’s payout ratio is currently 23.91%.

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.