AT&T Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 91,290 call options on the company. This is an increase of 56% compared to the average daily volume of 58,654 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in T. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at $11,554,000. Provence Wealth Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 55.8% in the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 16,217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 5,807 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in AT&T by 250.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 67,303 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 48,091 shares in the last quarter. Retireful LLC bought a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,163,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in AT&T by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 46,265 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $776,000 after purchasing an additional 5,161 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE:T traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.13. 52,807,062 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,886,191. The company has a market cap of $137.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.60. AT&T has a 1 year low of $13.43 and a 1 year high of $19.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $17.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.80%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

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.