AT&T (NYSE:T) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $25.07 and last traded at $25.06, with a volume of 9019297 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $24.86.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $179.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 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 has a fifty day moving average of $23.09 and a 200-day moving average of $21.90.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. 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 4.43%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in 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 valued at $1,948,943,000 after acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,341,693,000 after buying an additional 1,149,688 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,057,676 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,208,123,000 after buying an additional 414,984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 33,963,826 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $753,318,000 after buying an additional 5,614,168 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.