AT&T (NYSE:T) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $24.00 to $26.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $19.19 and last traded at $19.19, with a volume of 106594 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.11.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.73.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Caxton Associates LP acquired a new position in AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 5.0% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,654,328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $24,847,000 after purchasing an additional 78,632 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its position in AT&T by 56.1% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 1,370,955 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,592,000 after purchasing an additional 492,812 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 140.4% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 205,178 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,082,000 after purchasing an additional 119,843 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 185.6% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $137.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.18.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.78%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 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.