ADT (NYSE:ADT) Price Target Raised to $9.00

ADT (NYSE:ADT) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $8.50 to $9.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the security and automation business’ stock.

ADT has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on ADT from $8.20 to $9.20 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

ADT Stock Performance

NYSE ADT opened at $7.20 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $7.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.35. The company has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 1.49. ADT has a 1-year low of $6.02 and a 1-year high of $8.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. ADT had a return on equity of 17.77% and a net margin of 18.18%. ADT’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that ADT will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.055 dividend. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. ADT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ADT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in ADT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $195,461,000. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in ADT by 186.0% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,646,113 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $73,310,000 after purchasing an additional 6,272,974 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of ADT by 61.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,359,752 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $93,937,000 after buying an additional 4,705,544 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ADT by 75.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,862,453 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $59,755,000 after buying an additional 3,370,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in ADT by 35.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,875,140 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $42,487,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.