AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Down 0.7% – Should You Sell?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $21.48 and last traded at $21.90. Approximately 7,841,643 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 35,890,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AT&T to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.38.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $157.10 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. The firm had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in AT&T by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,999,912,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588,539 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in AT&T by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,689,000 after buying an additional 1,569,374 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $985,307,000 after buying an additional 1,007,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 30,092,610 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $575,070,000 after buying an additional 315,580 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.