ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) Short Interest Down 9.5% in October

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Approximately 5.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ADT

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in ADT by 56.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,085 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 7,635 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ADT by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,732,598 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $12,180,000 after acquiring an additional 220,412 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of ADT by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 375,429 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $2,523,000 after acquiring an additional 3,931 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of ADT by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 75,863 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 2,183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in ADT by 31.4% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,297,954 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $8,703,000 after purchasing an additional 310,406 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.22% of the company’s stock.

ADT Stock Up 0.3 %

ADT traded up $0.02 on Wednesday, reaching $7.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,530,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,328,216. ADT has a 1 year low of $5.53 and a 1 year high of $8.25. The business’s 50 day moving average is $7.18 and its 200 day moving average is $7.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.53.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last released its quarterly 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 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 13.83% and a return on equity of 15.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that ADT will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. ADT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.