AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.4%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) traded up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $19.58 and last traded at $19.57. 5,962,248 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 36,094,676 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.49.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BNP Paribas raised AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their price target on AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.06.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $139.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.58. 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 fifty day moving average price of $18.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.74.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.57. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The business had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.70%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Old North State Trust LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 23,062 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 2,218 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 115,159 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,201,000 after buying an additional 5,549 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the second quarter worth $84,000. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.3% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 376,145 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares during the period. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 41.0% in the second quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 32,115 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 9,344 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.