AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 1.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price was up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $28.00 to $30.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $27.77 and last traded at $27.66. Approximately 9,324,390 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 42,458,500 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.19.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.48.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Next Level Private LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 113,379 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,206,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the period. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 24,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $550,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 9.4% in the first quarter. Kozak & Associates Inc. now owns 4,617 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.3% in the first quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 114,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,222,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 4.1% in the first quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,114 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Up 1.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $197.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $26.95 and its 200 day moving average is $24.28.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.39 billion. Research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, 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 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 68.10%.

About AT&T

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.