Traders Purchase High Volume of ADT Call Options (NYSE:ADT)

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 2,612 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 696% compared to the average volume of 328 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on ADT from $10.00 to $8.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ADT

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ADT by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 25,101 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $191,000 after buying an additional 3,024 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ADT by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,546 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 3,311 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of ADT by 1.1% during 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 buying an additional 3,931 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.22% of the company’s stock.

ADT Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ADT opened at $6.96 on Wednesday. ADT has a twelve month low of $5.53 and a twelve month high of $7.92. The company’s 50 day moving average is $7.17 and its 200 day moving average is $7.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The company has a market cap of $6.42 billion, a PE ratio of 9.94 and a beta of 1.53.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The security and automation business reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.17. ADT had a net margin of 13.83% and a return on equity of 15.45%. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. ADT’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ADT will post 0.62 EPS for the current year.

ADT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. ADT’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.43%.

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.