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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) traded down 0.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $15.94 and last traded at $16.09. 56,368,796 shares changed hands 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.68.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $115.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.21, a PEG 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.48.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 85,003.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 76,836,936 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,414,568,000 after buying an additional 76,746,649 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $1,229,499,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in AT&T by 185.6% during 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 130.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after buying an additional 32,558,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 109,639,428 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,018,462,000 after buying an additional 29,769,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.