AT&T Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 76,955 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 14% compared to the average daily volume of 67,224 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on T. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.21.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the period. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 59,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 12,383 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 51,198 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE T traded up $0.21 on Tuesday, hitting $25.07. 20,651,466 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 37,436,695. AT&T has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $25.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.09 and a 200-day moving average of $21.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $179.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

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.