ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) saw 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 daily trading volume, of 6,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ADT. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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 upped their price objective on ADT from $8.20 to $9.20 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

ADT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ADT opened at $7.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.29. ADT has a twelve month low of $6.09 and a twelve month high of $8.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 18.18% and a return on equity of 17.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ADT will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were paid a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 23.91%.

Institutional Trading of ADT

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ADT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in ADT in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ADT during the third quarter valued at approximately $70,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of ADT by 46.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,577 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 3,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ADT in the third quarter worth $76,000. 87.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.