AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Down 1.2%

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) dropped 1.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $16.50 and last traded at $16.61. Approximately 14,103,023 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 39,010,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Oppenheimer upgraded AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Barclays boosted their price objective on AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, TheStreet upgraded AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $119.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a fifty day moving average of $16.96 and a 200 day moving average of $16.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

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

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hourglass Capital LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 1.2% during the first quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC now owns 181,680 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,198,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Conning Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.6% during the first quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 48,293 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $850,000 after acquiring an additional 3,409 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 40.5% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 608,315 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,706,000 after acquiring an additional 175,211 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 5.7% in the first quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 20,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plan Group Financial LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 111.0% in the first quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC now owns 21,626 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 11,375 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently 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.