AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 1.3% After Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares were up 1.3% on Friday after StockNews.com upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $16.82 and last traded at $16.80. Approximately 11,143,754 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 39,059,297 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.58.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on T. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Wolfe Research raised AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer upgraded AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.81.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 33.0% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 43,337 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 10,758 shares during the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 46.2% during the third quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 9,500 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 5.7% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,128,247 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,966,000 after purchasing an additional 115,591 shares during the period. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 53.1% in the third quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,981 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 7,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 38.6% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 52,772 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 14,710 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.96 and a 200-day moving average of $16.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.