ADT (NYSE:ADT) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen has upgraded ADT from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating, signaling increased confidence in the stock's potential.
• Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have also raised their price targets for ADT, with Citigroup now setting a target of $10.00.
• A major shareholder, Apollo Management, sold 71 million shares of ADT stock, reducing their ownership by 38.66%.

ADT (NYSE:ADT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

ADT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on ADT from $9.00 to $9.50 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of ADT from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of ADT to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $9.34.

ADT Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of ADT stock traded down $0.01 on Friday, hitting $8.59. 4,317,440 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,636,050. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $8.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. ADT has a 52 week low of $6.68 and a 52 week high of $8.86. The company has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.13.

ADT (NYSE:ADT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.28 billion. ADT had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 18.58%. The company's revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. ADT has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.810-0.890 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that ADT will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ADT

In other news, major shareholder Apollo Management Holdings Gp, sold 71,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.31, for a total transaction of $590,010,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 112,650,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at $936,124,541.46. The trade was a 38.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ADT

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of ADT by 366.3% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 74,204 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 58,292 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of ADT by 7,745.1% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 3,444,613 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $28,039,000 after buying an additional 3,400,705 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of ADT by 36.8% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 19,660 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 5,287 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of ADT by 93.1% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 212,728 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $1,732,000 after buying an additional 102,538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in ADT by 11.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,072,596 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $49,431,000 after purchasing an additional 608,445 shares during the last quarter. 87.22% of the stock is 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.