ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) Short Interest Up 33.1% in December

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 volume of 6,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on ADT from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of ADT from $8.20 to $9.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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 Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE ADT opened at $7.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a PE ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 1.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $7.26 and its 200 day moving average is $7.29. ADT has a twelve month low of $6.09 and a twelve month high of $8.25. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.22 billion. ADT had a net margin of 18.18% and a return on equity of 17.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. Research analysts forecast that ADT will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ADT

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ADT. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of ADT by 3.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 247,390 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $1,880,000 after acquiring an additional 7,900 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in ADT by 27.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 53,222 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 11,549 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in ADT by 84.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 93,573 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 42,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of ADT in the second quarter worth approximately $336,000. 87.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.