AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0.8% – Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price shot up 0.8% on Friday . The company traded as high as $26.37 and last traded at $26.30. 7,353,380 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 41,439,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.09.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on T. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. BNP Paribas raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.74.

AT&T Trading Up 2.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.06. The stock has a market cap of $190.98 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Curi RMB Capital LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 71.2% in the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 22,453 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 9,335 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 10.1% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 190,699 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,195,000 after acquiring an additional 17,469 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in AT&T by 5.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,150,056 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,300,000 after acquiring an additional 58,585 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 3.2% in the third quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,013 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 21.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 2,201,609 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,435,000 after acquiring an additional 393,838 shares during the last quarter. 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.