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

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) were up 0.2% on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $22.07 and last traded at $21.95. Approximately 6,633,678 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 36,017,832 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.90.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 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 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.38.

AT&T Trading Up 0.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $158.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s fifty day moving average is $20.29 and its 200-day moving average is $18.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AT&T by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,999,912,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,539 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in AT&T by 7.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in AT&T by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569,374 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in AT&T by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $985,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,228 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in AT&T by 1.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 30,092,610 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $575,070,000 after purchasing an additional 315,580 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.