AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Down 2.8%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares were down 2.8% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $18.77 and last traded at $18.83. Approximately 16,527,813 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 36,718,852 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.33.

AT&T Stock Up 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,999,912,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,539 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in AT&T by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $1,118,288,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in AT&T by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,589,421 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $848,888,000 after acquiring an additional 798,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 47,377,267 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $794,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137,792 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is 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.