AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.1% Following Dividend Announcement

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price traded up 0.1% during trading on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $28.51 and last traded at $28.23. 9,686,804 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 34,285,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.20.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.79.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $202.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $25.70 and a 200-day moving average of $23.53.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released 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 net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of T. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,700,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares during the last quarter. Fortress Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $691,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 37,961 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 15,680 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.