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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 112,672 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 63% compared to the average volume of 69,160 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on T shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $30.00 price target on AT&T in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Wednesday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.16.

AT&T Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:T traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $24.86. 24,178,797 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 47,823,996. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. AT&T has a 12 month low of $19.89 and a 12 month high of $29.43. The company has a market cap of $170.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.68.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $31.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.80 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 12.86% and a net margin of 16.94%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. AT&T has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.350 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, October 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 36.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of T. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 332,089,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,249,109,000 after acquiring an additional 8,314,678 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in AT&T by 4.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 125,191,700 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,629,307,000 after purchasing an additional 5,449,222 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in AT&T by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 72,764,509 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,109,443,000 after purchasing an additional 8,197,935 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in AT&T by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 50,375,637 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,251,331,000 after purchasing an additional 482,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,223,364,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and related connectivity services. Its offerings include mobile voice and data plans, internet access, fiber broadband, fixed wireless services, and business communications solutions.

The company serves consumers, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations primarily in the United States. AT&T’s business operations include wireless network services, wireline connectivity, fiber-optic internet, voice services, and networking solutions designed to connect locations, devices, and applications.

AT&T traces its history to the Bell System and has operated under its current corporate name since 2005, following the acquisition of AT&T Corp.