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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors bought 106,815 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 31% compared to the average volume of 81,675 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 3.1% during the first quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 17,233 shares of the technology company's stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the first quarter worth approximately $244,000. KFG Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the 1st quarter valued at about $228,000. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 20,659 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743 shares during the period. Finally, Fortress Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the first quarter valued at approximately $224,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on T shares. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Argus raised AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $28.50 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.24.

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AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T traded up $0.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.79. The company had a trading volume of 32,049,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,927,651. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's payout ratio is 74.50%.

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.