AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.2% After Dividend Announcement

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $18.75 and last traded at $18.73. 6,162,294 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 36,617,215 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.69.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors 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 dividend yield of 5.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on T. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. 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 note on Monday, April 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.54.

AT&T Stock Down 0.0 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $17.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.14. The stock has a market cap of $134.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc lifted its position in AT&T by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 35,098 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 19,889 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $350,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its position in AT&T by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 606 shares during the period. JB Capital LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 26,620 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 41,595 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period. 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.