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

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) saw a significant increase in short interest during 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. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,670,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ADT

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ADT. 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 report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on ADT from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

ADT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ADT opened at $7.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. The stock has a market cap of $6.58 billion, a PE ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s fifty day moving average is $7.26 and its 200 day moving average is $7.29. ADT has a 52 week low of $6.09 and a 52 week high of $8.25.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. ADT had a return on equity of 17.77% and a net margin of 18.18%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.07 EPS. ADT’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that ADT will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

ADT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th were paid a $0.055 dividend. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 12th. 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.