AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0.7% on Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares traded up 0.7% during trading on Wednesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $32.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $24.58 and last traded at $24.43. 5,454,262 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 38,454,316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.25.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Argus raised shares of 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.21.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,742,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,667,000 after acquiring an additional 121,702 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $381,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 2,552.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 546,517 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,444,000 after purchasing an additional 525,914 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,242,755 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,298,000 after purchasing an additional 60,520 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average is $22.97 and its 200-day moving average is $21.73. The company has a market capitalization of $175.54 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. On average, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

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.