AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Down 0.5%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price was down 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $16.38 and last traded at $16.42. Approximately 28,451,332 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 38,716,324 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on T shares. Oppenheimer upgraded AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. TheStreet upgraded AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.81.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.54. The company has a market capitalization of $118.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.92, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in T. Carmel Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 16,250.0% during the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,625 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. First Pacific Financial lifted its holdings in AT&T by 166.7% during the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lipe & Dalton bought a new position in AT&T during the third quarter worth about $30,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Company Profile

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.