AT&T Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 86,584 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 44% compared to the average volume of 60,173 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.18.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE T opened at $22.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $22.52 and a 200 day moving average of $20.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. AT&T has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.86%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of T. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS purchased a new stake in AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,042,000. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the third quarter worth approximately $217,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 19.7% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 140,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,080,000 after purchasing an additional 23,000 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 640,725 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,096,000 after purchasing an additional 10,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.