Lazard Asset Management LLC Raises Position in ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT)

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT - Free Report) by 295.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,022,358 shares of the security and automation business's stock after buying an additional 1,511,327 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.22% of ADT worth $13,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of ADT during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in ADT in the 4th quarter worth about $73,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in ADT in the 4th quarter worth about $73,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of ADT by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 10,600 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of ADT during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Institutional investors own 87.22% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ADT 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 approximately $1,833,775,935.32. This represents a 17.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

ADT Stock Performance

NYSE ADT traded up $0.13 on Friday, reaching $8.60. 16,530,939 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,949,567. The firm has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.60. ADT Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.53 and a fifty-two week high of $8.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

ADT Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be given 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 dividend yield of 2.56%. ADT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.