AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Down 0.1%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) fell 0.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $21.23 and last traded at $21.33. 9,801,779 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 36,000,734 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on T. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Daiwa America raised AT&T to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup increased their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.31.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.30. The stock has a market cap of $154.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.47, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The firm had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1,379.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $152,109,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 43.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $414,563,000 after buying an additional 6,602,586 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,549,375,000 after buying an additional 5,592,123 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in AT&T by 120.8% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,086,854 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $152,477,000 after buying an additional 4,970,954 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.