Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on ADT (NYSE:ADT)

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 3,601 put options on the company. This is an increase of 536% compared to the typical volume of 566 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADT has been the topic of a number of research reports. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of ADT in a report on Monday, August 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ADT in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on ADT from $7.50 to $7.75 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ADT currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.23.

Institutional Trading of ADT

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of ADT in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $192,996,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in ADT during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,130,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of ADT by 9.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 39,887,288 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $262,054,000 after buying an additional 3,529,422 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co bought a new stake in shares of ADT in the 1st quarter worth approximately $16,871,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of ADT by 17,352.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,462,039 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $16,176,000 after acquiring an additional 2,447,932 shares during the period. 87.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ADT Trading Down 0.2%

ADT stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $7.08. 304,904 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,805,664. ADT has a 52-week low of $6.24 and a 52-week high of $8.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $7.27 and its 200-day moving average is $6.97. The company has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The security and automation business reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. ADT had a net margin of 11.85% and a return on equity of 18.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. ADT has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.910-0.910 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ADT will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

ADT Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a dividend of $0.055 per share. This represents a $0.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. ADT’s payout ratio is presently 30.99%.

ADT Company Profile

ADT Inc (NYSE: ADT) is a provider of security, automation and smart-home solutions for residential and commercial customers. The company offers professionally installed and monitored alarm systems, video surveillance, fire and life-safety products, access-control solutions, and home-automation services.

For residential customers, ADT provides security systems that can integrate alarms, cameras, locks, lighting, thermostats and other connected devices. Its services generally include 24-hour professional monitoring, mobile-app controls, video monitoring and related support.