ADT (NYSE:ADT) Reaches New 52-Week High - What's Next?

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $8.72 and last traded at $8.65, with a volume of 3442467 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $8.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ADT shares. Barclays upgraded shares of ADT from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $7.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $9.00 price objective on shares of ADT in a report on Monday, April 21st.

ADT Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average is $8.13 and its 200-day moving average is $7.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.97 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93.

ADT (NYSE:ADT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. ADT had a net margin of 18.18% and a return on equity of 17.77%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. On average, analysts predict that ADT Inc. will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.055 per share. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 12th. ADT's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Apollo Management Holdings Gp, sold 50,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.02, for a total value of $401,000,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 228,650,366 shares in the company, valued at $1,833,775,935.32. This represents a 17.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of ADT

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in ADT during the first quarter worth about $35,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of ADT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in shares of ADT by 80.9% in the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 5,301 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of ADT in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of ADT in the first quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.22% of the company's stock.

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.