ADT (NYSE:ADT) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $7.88, but opened at $7.42. ADT shares last traded at $7.33, with a volume of 10,264,090 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ADT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on ADT from $8.20 to $9.20 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

ADT Price Performance

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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 1.53.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. ADT had a return on equity of 15.45% and a net margin of 13.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that ADT Inc. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

ADT Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.055 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. ADT’s payout ratio is currently 31.43%.

Institutional Trading of ADT

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in ADT by 56.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,085 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 7,635 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ADT by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,732,598 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $12,180,000 after acquiring an additional 220,412 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in ADT by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 375,429 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $2,523,000 after acquiring an additional 3,931 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in ADT by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 75,863 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 2,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in ADT by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,297,954 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $8,703,000 after purchasing an additional 310,406 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.22% of the company’s stock.

ADT Company Profile

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.