AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 1% – What’s Next?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price shot up 1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $24.82 and last traded at $24.79. 6,895,538 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 37,161,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.54.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on T. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Up 0.9 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03, 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.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. 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 4.38%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased its position in AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by 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.