AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Short Interest Down 16.3% in January

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 88,210,000 shares, a decline of 16.3% from the December 31st total of 105,350,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 36,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $24.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 59,535,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,432,809. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.66. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in 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 in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 15.8% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 112.9% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $378,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer started coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.11.

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.