Investors Purchase Large Volume of ADT Put Options (NYSE:ADT)

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 3,601 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 536% compared to the typical daily volume of 566 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ADT

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in ADT by 9.7% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 3,529,422 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of ADT by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 27,837,737 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $224,651,000 after buying an additional 2,191,531 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of ADT in the fourth quarter valued at about $192,996,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of ADT by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 14,156,264 shares of the security and automation business’s stock valued at $114,241,000 after buying an additional 215,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in ADT by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,906,341 shares of the security and automation business’s stock worth $88,030,000 after buying an additional 577,013 shares in the last quarter. 87.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ADT Price Performance

ADT stock traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $7.08. 304,904 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,805,664. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $7.27 and a 200 day moving average of $6.97. ADT has a 1-year low of $6.24 and a 1-year high of $8.89. The company has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a PE ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 1.02.

ADT (NYSE:ADT) last posted 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 analyst estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be paid a $0.055 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 10th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. ADT’s payout ratio is 30.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About ADT

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.