AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) rose 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $16.23 and last traded at $16.20. Approximately 7,314,483 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 38,163,711 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.68.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $17.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.48.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 11.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 56.63%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 85,003.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 76,836,936 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,414,568,000 after buying an additional 76,746,649 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $1,229,499,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 185.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 130.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $863,884,000 after buying an additional 32,558,342 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 109,639,428 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,018,462,000 after buying an additional 29,769,976 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.