AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 1.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) rose 1.3% during mid-day trading on Friday after StockNews.com upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The company traded as high as $16.82 and last traded at $16.80. Approximately 11,143,754 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 39,059,297 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.58.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on T. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.81.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. First Pacific Financial boosted its stake in AT&T by 166.7% during the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its position in AT&T by 16,250.0% during the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lipe & Dalton purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the third quarter valued at $30,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $119.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $16.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.68.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 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 6.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

About AT&T

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.