AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading 1.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $27.49 and last traded at $27.20. 11,071,724 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 38,360,988 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on T shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $197.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.56. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 24,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $550,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. BNP Paribas boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 41,716 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 59,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.