AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Down 0.8% – Should You Sell?

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) dropped 0.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $22.68 and last traded at $22.81. Approximately 4,961,907 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 35,375,734 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of a number of research reports. Daiwa America raised AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $21.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 4.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

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

AT&T Company Profile

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.