Stock Traders Buy High Volume of AT&T Call Options (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 102,083 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 56% compared to the average volume of 65,277 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.83.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its holdings in AT&T by 169.2% during 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 period. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the third quarter worth $35,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE T opened at $22.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $162.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $24.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.80 and a 200-day moving average of $21.41.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.24%.

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.