AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 0.8% – Here’s Why

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price rose 0.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $25.58 and last traded at $25.58. Approximately 8,494,012 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 37,019,914 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on T shares. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. 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 note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BNP Paribas raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $185.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $23.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.04.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in AT&T by 305.1% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,541,724 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,918,000 after buying an additional 1,161,152 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in AT&T by 2.8% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,564,777 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,413,000 after buying an additional 43,218 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 25,356 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 2,810 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter valued at about $276,000. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 6.6% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 265,512 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,841,000 after buying an additional 16,499 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.