AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares were up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $32.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $24.33 and last traded at $24.35. Approximately 6,756,796 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 38,818,258 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.25.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.21.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after buying an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,679 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $174.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $22.94 and its 200 day moving average is $21.70.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 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 given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

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.