AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Short Interest Down 16.3% in January

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 88,210,000 shares, a decline of 16.3% from the December 31st total of 105,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 36,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $24.26. The company had a trading volume of 59,535,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,432,809. AT&T has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $24.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.92 and a 200 day moving average of $21.66. The firm has a market cap of $174.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced 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 net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after buying an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in AT&T by 15.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in AT&T by 112.9% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 7.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $378,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on T shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.11.

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.