Sanford C. Bernstein Upgrades AT&T (NYSE:T) to "Strong-Buy"

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer began coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.00.

AT&T Stock Down 0.2 %

T traded down $0.05 on Monday, reaching $23.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,990,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,497,379. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. AT&T has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $24.03. The business's 50 day moving average is $22.41 and its 200 day moving average is $20.47. The stock has a market cap of $168.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new stake in AT&T in the second quarter worth approximately $23,888,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in AT&T by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company's stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in AT&T by 18.3% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,312,000 after buying an additional 30,281 shares during the last quarter. Talbot Financial LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the third quarter valued at about $7,438,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 12.2% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,641,856 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,486,000 after buying an additional 288,093 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.