Investors Buy Large Volume of Put Options on AT&T (NYSE:T)

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors acquired 106,815 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 31% compared to the average volume of 81,675 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Monday. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $26.80 on Tuesday. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.31 and its 200 day moving average is $23.80. 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 company has a market capitalization of $192.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

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

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.