AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 2.2% – Here’s Why

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price shot up 2.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $29.03 and last traded at $28.75. 16,788,357 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 36,227,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. 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 research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.21.

AT&T Trading Up 1.6 %

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.67. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $205.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in AT&T by 96.9% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 17,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $487,000 after purchasing an additional 8,471 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 61,016 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after acquiring an additional 9,497 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its position in AT&T by 2.5% in the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 51,200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,448,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246 shares in the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 0.7% during the first quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 94,646 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,677,000 after buying an additional 696 shares during the period. Finally, Hobart Private Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC now owns 10,943 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

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.