AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Down 0.9%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price fell 0.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $15.94 and last traded at $16.09. 56,368,796 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 73% from the average session volume of 32,633,924 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.24.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on T. TheStreet raised AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.68.

AT&T Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $115.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.48.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of T. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.2% during the first quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 47,356 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,119,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. SMH Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. SMH Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 31,771 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. now owns 17,329 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 35,098 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.