AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.6% - Still a Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 0.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $26.25 and last traded at $26.24. Approximately 6,448,751 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 37,220,484 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $191.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.59. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $23.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.28.

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

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. AT&T's payout ratio is 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake 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 valued at $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp increased its stake in AT&T by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 21,927 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,312,000 after acquiring an additional 30,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.