AT&T Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 79,935 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 30% compared to the average daily volume of 61,363 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 30.3% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,678 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AT&T by 72.2% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 323,538 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,696,000 after acquiring an additional 135,603 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in AT&T by 7.8% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 109,610 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,929,000 after acquiring an additional 7,944 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 5.7% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 274,395 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,829,000 after purchasing an additional 14,789 shares during the period. Finally, JT Stratford LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 18.4% during the first quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 29,568 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 4,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 0.9 %

T opened at $23.03 on Friday. AT&T has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $23.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $21.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

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.