AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 1.3% - Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) shot up 1.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $26.76 and last traded at $26.52. 11,297,274 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 36,802,156 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.19.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on T. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $28.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.24.

AT&T Stock Up 1.5 %

The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $26.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.97. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $192.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42.

Remove Ads

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in T. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.