ADT (NYSE:ADT) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

ADT Inc. (NYSE:ADT - Get Free Report)'s share 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 traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ADT. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on ADT from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of ADT from $8.20 to $9.20 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday.

ADT Stock Down 6.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.53. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $7.19 and a 200 day moving average of $7.17.

ADT (NYSE:ADT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The security and automation business reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. ADT had a return on equity of 15.45% and a net margin of 13.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.07 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that ADT Inc. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current year.

ADT Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.055 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. ADT's payout ratio is currently 31.43%.

Institutional Trading of ADT

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ADT by 10.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,406,307 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $237,930,000 after buying an additional 3,427,575 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of ADT by 2.6% in the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 30,360,559 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $230,740,000 after purchasing an additional 780,762 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in ADT during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $195,461,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in ADT by 61.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,359,752 shares of the security and automation business's stock valued at $93,937,000 after buying an additional 4,705,544 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of ADT by 186.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 9,646,113 shares of the security and automation business's stock worth $73,310,000 after acquiring an additional 6,272,974 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.22% of the company's stock.

About ADT

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.