AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.71.

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 5th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in T. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Pacific Financial grew its position in AT&T by 166.7% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its position in AT&T by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 2.0 %

T stock opened at $19.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.57 and a 200-day moving average of $17.17. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $19.13.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. AT&T’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.68%.

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.