ADT (NYSE:ADT) Trading Down 3.7% - Here's Why

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 3.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $8.30 and last traded at $8.29. Approximately 4,966,684 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 49% from the average daily volume of 9,737,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on ADT shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $9.00 price target on shares of ADT in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays raised shares of ADT from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $7.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, April 4th.

ADT Trading Up 2.2%

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 firm has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.16 and a beta of 1.23. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $8.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.69.

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

ADT Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be paid a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. ADT's payout ratio is 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Apollo Management Holdings Gp, sold 50,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.02, for a total transaction of $401,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 228,650,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,833,775,935.32. This trade represents a 17.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ADT by 11.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,715,950 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $404,688,000 after buying an additional 5,160,835 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in ADT by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,077,931 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $212,264,000 after purchasing an additional 4,624,120 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in ADT during the 4th quarter valued at about $153,824,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in ADT by 86.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 13,119,098 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $105,543,000 after purchasing an additional 6,089,671 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its position in ADT by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 12,545,184 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $102,118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,861 shares during the period. 87.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.