AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.7% – Here’s Why

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price was up 0.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $26.38 and last traded at $26.37. Approximately 6,941,142 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 40,245,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on T. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.74.

AT&T Trading Up 1.6 %

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 business’s 50-day moving average is $24.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.80. The firm has a market cap of $194.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter worth about $62,000. M&G PLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,007,000. Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 3.6% in the third quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 18,952 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.7% during the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 76,286 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 2,688 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Resource Council bought a new stake in AT&T during the third quarter worth approximately $303,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.