AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 28th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of 0.2775 per share by the technology company on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%.

AT&T has decreased its dividend by an average of 18.9% per year over the last three years. AT&T has a payout ratio of 49.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect AT&T to earn $2.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.11 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.9%.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T stock traded down $0.00 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.20. 35,072,594 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,189,161. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $28.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $25.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Analysts predict that AT&T will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

An institutional investor recently raised its position in AT&T stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 26.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,579 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,188 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.79.

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.