AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.4%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price was up 0.4% on Monday . The company traded as high as $19.49 and last traded at $19.42. Approximately 4,782,904 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 36,175,191 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.34.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on T shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a 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 $22.06.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $139.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The firm had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.71%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 59.68%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,118,288,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $316,472,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position 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 valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $152,109,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 6,602,586 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Company Profile

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.