AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 1.5% – Should You Buy?

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shot up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $22.41 and last traded at $22.37. 5,861,197 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 35,515,328 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.04.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on T. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.40.

AT&T Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $21.70 and a 200 day moving average of $19.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 90.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of T. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in AT&T by 32.0% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 101,042 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 24,504 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,673,855 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,060,000 after purchasing an additional 645,350 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 21.6% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,048 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 4,276 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 8.2% in the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 80,310 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,413,000 after buying an additional 6,085 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 4.9% during the first quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,575 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.