AT&T shares gain for a second straight session on Monday, company to acquire AppNexus for undisclosed amount

AT&T Inc (T) announced on Monday that it had agreed to acquire AppNexus Inc, a company operating a digital platform where advertisers are able to buy on-line ads. The announcement came less than a month after AT&T finalized its acquisition of Time Warner Inc for as much as $85 billion.

AT&T shares closed higher for a second consecutive trading session in New York on Monday. The stock inched up 0.06% ($0.02) to $31.71, after touching an intraday high at $31.95, or a price level not seen since June 21st ($32.30).

Shares of AT&T Inc have retreated 18.44% so far in 2018 compared with a 1.63% gain for the underlying index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2017, AT&T Inc’s stock fell 8.58%, thus, it again underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 19.42% return.

The value of the acquisition remained undisclosed. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal last week, citing sources, AT&T was in negotiations to purchase AppNexus for approximately $1.6 billion.

The transaction is to be finalized during Q3 2018.

AppNexus is to become part of AT&T advertising & analytics, which would allow the US telecom giant to further boost its positions in on-line advertising and to become more competitive against Facebook Inc and Alphabet’s Google.

According to CNN Money, the 24 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding AT&T Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $37.50, with a high estimate of $43.00 and a low estimate of $24.00. The median estimate represents an 18.26% upside compared to the closing price of $31.71 on June 25th.

The same media also reported that 16 out of 29 surveyed investment analysts had rated AT&T Inc’s stock as “Hold”, while 8 – as “Buy”. On the other hand, 2 analysts had recommended selling the stock.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, today’s levels of importance for the AT&T stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $31.74
R2 – $31.78
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $31.81
R4 (Long Breakout) – $31.91
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $32.03
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $32.08

S1 – $31.68
S2 – $31.64
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $31.61
S4 (Short Breakout) – $31.51
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $31.39
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $31.34

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for AT&T Inc (T) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $32.08
R1 – $32.65
R2 – $33.61
R3 – $34.18
R4 – $34.75

S1 – $31.12
S2 – $30.55
S3 – $29.59
S4 – $28.63