AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.1% – Here’s Why

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price was up 0.1% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $24.14 and last traded at $24.05. Approximately 5,379,577 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 37,649,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on T shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.11.

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 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.59. The company has a market cap of $170.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter worth about $18,285,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter worth about $44,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,989,100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,012,000 after purchasing an additional 178,100 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 4.7% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 44,098 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $843,000 after buying an additional 1,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the second quarter valued at about $418,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.