Short Interest in ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) Grows By 33.1%

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) was the target of a large 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 trading volume of 6,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 4.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of ADT by 0.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 172,226 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in ADT by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 21,745 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,112 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in ADT by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 27,643 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 2,542 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in ADT by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 26,674 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $193,000 after purchasing an additional 3,054 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of ADT by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,546 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 3,311 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of ADT from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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 Price Performance

ADT stock opened at $7.26 on Friday. ADT has a 52-week low of $6.09 and a 52-week high of $8.25. 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.29.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.20 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. ADT’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that ADT will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ADT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $0.055 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. ADT’s payout ratio is 23.91%.

ADT Company Profile

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.