AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading 1.1% Higher – Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares shot up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $26.97 and last traded at $26.88. 9,913,996 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 38,464,844 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on T. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Trading Up 2.0 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $197.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced 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 net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,637,914,000 after buying an additional 6,220,442 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,719,723,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,644 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after acquiring an additional 26,280,866 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $1,858,418,000. 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.