AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T – Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 146,817 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 62% compared to the average daily volume of 90,688 call options.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Gratus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth $301,000. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,868 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 8,831 shares during the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth $1,010,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,258,265 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $259,219,000 after buying an additional 383,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 60,593 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $966,000 after buying an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.65% of the company’s stock.
AT&T Stock Performance
Shares of T traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $16.80. 43,792,388 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,518,648. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.12 billion, a PE ratio of -10.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.39. AT&T has a 52-week low of $13.43 and a 52-week high of $20.50.
AT&T (NYSE:T – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 19th. The technology company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02. AT&T had a negative net margin of 9.29% and a positive return on equity of 16.26%. The firm had revenue of $30.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.
AT&T Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -72.08%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
T has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $18.50 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer raised shares of AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of AT&T from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.70.
About AT&T
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, and carrying cases and hands-free devices through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.