AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.1% – Here’s Why

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shot up 0.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $24.14 and last traded at $24.05. 5,379,577 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 37,649,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on T. Citigroup raised their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.11.

AT&T Stock Down 1.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $22.91 and a 200-day moving average of $21.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. On average, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.68%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares during the period. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,438,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.