AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Down 3.5% – Should You Sell?

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) dropped 3.5% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $26.20 and last traded at $26.32. Approximately 18,523,659 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 40,601,773 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.28.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on T. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.74.

AT&T Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $186.74 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.90.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp boosted its position in AT&T by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Company Profile

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.