AT&T (NYSE:T) Upgraded to Buy at DZ Bank

DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $27.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Argus 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 Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.11.

AT&T Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE T opened at $24.23 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $22.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.55. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $173.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 41,124 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $936,000 after buying an additional 4,232 shares during the period. Howard Bailey Securities LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC now owns 11,844 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its position in AT&T by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 9,394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in AT&T by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 4,842 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Planning Corp increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.