AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0.6% on Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) shot 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. 8,962,893 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 36,084,870 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.18.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank raised their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.21.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Centre Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.7% during the first 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 last quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC now owns 10,943 shares of the technology company's stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of 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 bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $769,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 161.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,522,814 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $57,444,000 after buying an additional 1,557,431 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Trading Up 0.7 %

The business's fifty day moving average is $25.82 and its 200-day moving average is $23.59. 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 firm has a market cap of $204.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

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.