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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price was up 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $26.27 and last traded at $26.26. Approximately 6,320,011 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 37,010,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.24.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on T. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Argus raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.28. 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 market capitalization of $191.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of T. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. BNP Paribas raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 41,716 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthstream Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in AT&T by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 12,383 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by 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.