AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report)'s share price was up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Monday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $32.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $28.56 and last traded at $28.36. Approximately 8,962,893 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 36,084,870 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.18.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.21.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centre Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 94,646 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,677,000 after buying an additional 696 shares during the period. Hobart Private Capital LLC raised its position in AT&T by 9.5% during the first quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC now owns 10,943 shares of the technology company's stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in AT&T by 2.5% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 33,791 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $769,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 161.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,522,814 shares of the technology company's stock worth $57,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,431 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $204.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The firm's 50-day moving average is $25.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.59. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

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.