AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 0.7% – Here’s Why

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) traded up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $26.38 and last traded at $26.37. 6,941,142 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 40,245,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. BNP Paribas raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.74.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.72. The company has a market capitalization of $191.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the third quarter worth $62,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in AT&T by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 396,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,928,000 after acquiring an additional 26,706 shares during the period. United Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 35,374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 6,402 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 19,795 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,360 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 64,083 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,410,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.