AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Down 1.3%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price dropped 1.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $18.47 and last traded at $18.56. Approximately 6,382,250 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 36,270,723 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on T shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank upped their target price on AT&T from $22.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Barclays raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.85.

AT&T Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $17.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.58.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 56,428 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 1,753,729 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,514,000 after buying an additional 26,044 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 697,760 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,334,000 after buying an additional 33,092 shares during the period. Kaydan Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AT&T during the second quarter worth about $326,000. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 119,725 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,288,000 after purchasing an additional 876 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

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.