ADT (NYSE:ADT) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $6.92, but opened at $7.38. ADT shares last traded at $7.36, with a volume of 1,374,046 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on ADT from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

ADT Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.53. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $7.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.15.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The security and automation business reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.17. ADT had a return on equity of 15.45% and a net margin of 13.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. ADT’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that ADT Inc. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.055 dividend. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. ADT’s payout ratio is currently 31.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,000. 87.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.