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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on T. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup lifted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.45.

AT&T Price 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.69. The company 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.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Buska Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 3.2% in the 4th 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 period. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $305,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $520,000. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $103,079,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.