AT&T Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 76,955 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 14% compared to the typical daily volume of 67,224 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Up 0.9 %

T opened at $25.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $182.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $25.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.94.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of AT&T by 305.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,541,724 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,918,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,152 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 85,944 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,891,000 after acquiring an additional 21,652 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at about $210,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 10.7% during the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,053 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 30,358 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 5,320 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AT&T

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.