Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on AT&T (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 93,728 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 37% compared to the average daily volume of 68,533 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of T. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 41,716 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $942,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. 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. Finally, Wealthstream Advisors Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $26.46. 31,887,796 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,641,570. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.38. The firm has a market cap of $189.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $27.16.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. On average, analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

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.