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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price dropped 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $24.33 and last traded at $24.39. Approximately 4,951,082 shares were traded 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Performance

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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.81. The firm has a market cap of $176.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in AT&T by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 41.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 18.3% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in AT&T by 7.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 396,958 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,928,000 after purchasing an additional 26,706 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.