ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) saw a large drop in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 21,320,000 shares, a drop of 9.5% from the September 30th total of 23,550,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days.

ADT Stock Performance

ADT traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $7.26. The company had a trading volume of 444,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,321,580. The stock has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 1.53. 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 $7.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.19. ADT has a 1-year low of $5.63 and a 1-year high of $8.25.

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

ADT Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ADT

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of ADT by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,406,307 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $237,930,000 after buying an additional 3,427,575 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ADT by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 30,360,559 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $230,740,000 after purchasing an additional 780,762 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in ADT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $195,461,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of ADT by 61.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,359,752 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $93,937,000 after acquiring an additional 4,705,544 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of ADT by 186.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,646,113 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $73,310,000 after purchasing an additional 6,272,974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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 research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

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.