AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T – Get Free Report) shares rose 0.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $17.70 and last traded at $17.58. Approximately 6,460,442 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 38,233,605 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.50.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
T has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, February 1st. TheStreet upgraded AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.61.
AT&T Price Performance
The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.35.
AT&T (NYSE:T – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 11.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.
AT&T Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.63%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in T. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 85,003.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 76,836,936 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,414,568,000 after buying an additional 76,746,649 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,229,499,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 185.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 130.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after buying an additional 32,558,342 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 109,639,428 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,018,462,000 after buying an additional 29,769,976 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.