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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 76,955 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 14% compared to the average volume of 67,224 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Tigress Financial increased their price target on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.21.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in T. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at about $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in AT&T by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the third 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 period. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 396,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,928,000 after buying an additional 26,706 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $25.37 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $182.04 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.94. AT&T has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $25.38.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Equities analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

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

AT&T Company Profile

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.