AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T – Get Free Report) shares were down 0.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $17.16 and last traded at $17.17. Approximately 5,437,347 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 36,831,852 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.27.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages recently commented on T. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.81.
AT&T Trading Down 0.8 %
The stock has a market cap of $122.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63.
AT&T (NYSE:T – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.
AT&T Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.48%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.68%.
Institutional Trading of AT&T
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $1,118,288,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 185.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 130.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $863,884,000 after acquiring an additional 32,558,342 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $316,472,000. Finally, Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $152,109,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
AT&T Company Profile
AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.