AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Down 0.3% – Here’s What Happened

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares dropped 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $24.33 and last traded at $24.39. Approximately 4,951,082 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 38,060,004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $22.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.