AT&T (NYSE:T) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $26.75 and last traded at $26.91, with a volume of 2031383 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.62.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BNP Paribas raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.32. The stock has a market cap of $194.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,637,914,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220,442 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640,644 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,667,000 after acquiring an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after buying an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $1,858,418,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.