Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on AT&T (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 91,290 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 56% compared to the typical volume of 58,654 call options.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $19.13. The company had a trading volume of 52,807,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,886,191. AT&T has a 12-month low of $13.43 and a 12-month high of $19.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $137.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.24, a PEG ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.47 and a 200-day moving average of $17.14.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 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 5.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.71.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in T. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 1st quarter worth $207,000. Old Port Advisors boosted its stake in AT&T by 10.1% during the first quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 108,875 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,916,000 after buying an additional 9,991 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 54.6% during the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 3,237 shares during the period. Keynote Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the first quarter valued at about $1,922,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 59.7% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,930 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 6,327 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.