AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 0.7% – Here’s What Happened

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shot up 0.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $26.38 and last traded at $26.37. 6,941,142 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 40,245,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on T. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus upgraded shares of 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 Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.74.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $24.14 and a 200 day moving average of $22.72. The firm has a market cap of $191.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.2% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 396,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,928,000 after purchasing an additional 26,706 shares during the period. United Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 22.1% during the third quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 35,374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 6,402 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 13.5% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 19,795 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc lifted its stake in AT&T by 1.1% in the third quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 64,083 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,410,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.