AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Down 1.2%

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on T shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Down 1.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 56.63%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,118,288,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 185.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,301,000 after purchasing an additional 34,189,954 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 130.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $863,884,000 after purchasing an additional 32,558,342 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $316,472,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 34,558,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $519,070,000 after buying an additional 9,518,478 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AT&T

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.