AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Down 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price was down 1.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $26.01 and last traded at $25.93. Approximately 9,225,497 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 40,274,078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.22.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on T shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.45.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $187.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $24.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.69.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid 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 4.24%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Buska Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Buska Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,391 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $305,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $520,000. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at about $103,079,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Company Profile

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.