AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading 0.7% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) rose 0.7% during trading on Wednesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $32.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $24.58 and last traded at $24.43. Approximately 5,454,262 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 38,454,316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.25.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on T. 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.21.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after buying an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in AT&T by 7.1% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,341,693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149,688 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $399,467,000 after purchasing an additional 325,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Up 0.9 %

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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.54 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. On average, equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

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.