AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0.8% – Time to Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares rose 0.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $25.58 and last traded at $25.58. Approximately 8,494,012 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 37,019,914 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on 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, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $183.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.96.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 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, equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in T. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 59,394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,352,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 12,383 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Investment Management boosted its position in AT&T by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 51,198 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.