AT&T (NYSE:T) Reaches New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $25.98 and last traded at $25.96, with a volume of 5341650 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $23.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $191.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,637,914,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220,442 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $3,719,723,000 after buying an additional 2,640,644 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $1,858,418,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.