AT&T (NYSE:T) Earns "Hold" Rating from TD Cowen

Key Points

• TD Cowen reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on AT&T and set a $33 price target, implying 45.86% upside from the referenced closing price. MarketBeat’s broader analyst consensus is “Moderate Buy,” with an average target of $28.70.
• AT&T exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.65 in EPS versus $0.60 expected and $32.32 billion in revenue, up 5.2% year over year. Growth was driven by fiber, fixed wireless and wireless services, including record internet customer additions.
• Despite the earnings beat, investors face concerns over AT&T’s roughly $159.6 billion debt load, slower-than-expected deleveraging and a $2.6 billion Mexico-related impairment, while potential Starlink competition could pressure future wireless growth.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at TD Cowen in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $33.00 price target on the technology company's stock. TD Cowen's target price suggests a potential upside of 45.86% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on T. Scotiabank cut their price objective on AT&T from $27.50 to $26.50 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $27.00 target price on AT&T in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AT&T from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on AT&T from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.70.

AT&T Price Performance

T traded up $0.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $22.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,015,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 48,449,844. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $24.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. AT&T has a 12 month low of $19.89 and a 12 month high of $29.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.25.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. AT&T had a return on equity of 12.86% and a net margin of 16.94%. The firm had revenue of $32.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bar Harbor Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.1% during the first quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management now owns 35,102 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 4.5% during the first quarter. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,105 shares of the technology company's stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the second quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. now owns 76,978 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,593,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.5% during the first quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 11,901 shares of the technology company's stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.4% during the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 97,209 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,818,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about AT&T

Here are the key news stories impacting AT&T this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AT&T reported adjusted earnings of $0.65 per share and revenue of $32.32 billion, exceeding consensus estimates. Revenue increased roughly 5.2% year over year, and management raised its 2026 adjusted EPS outlook to approximately $2.40. AT&T third-quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: Growth was led by fiber, fixed wireless and wireless services. AT&T added a record 769,000 internet customers, including 442,000 fiber additions, and 379,000 postpaid phone customers. Advanced Connectivity revenue rose 6.1%, while operating income increased 18.9%. AT&T fiber and wireless growth
• Positive Sentiment: The company plans to return capital through buybacks and dividends, while reducing planned annual capital investment for 2027 and 2028 to $22 billion-$23 billion. This could improve free-cash-flow conversion and support shareholder returns.
• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp maintained an “overweight” rating, although it reduced its price target from $36 to $33, implying substantial long-term upside from the referenced share price. KeyCorp price target update
• Neutral Sentiment: Management is emphasizing bundled fiber-and-wireless plans to attract higher-value, more loyal customers. AT&T also added approximately 350,000 converged relationships during the quarter, but the strategy may require continued promotions and customer incentives.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about leverage. Total debt reached approximately $159.6 billion after the EchoStar spectrum transaction, and AT&T now expects to return to its 2.5-times net-debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA target range in 2029, suggesting slower deleveraging than anticipated.
• Negative Sentiment: A $2.6 billion non-cash impairment related to the Mexico wireless business weighed on reported profit and highlighted execution risks. Margin pressure also made the earnings beat appear less compelling to some investors.
• Negative Sentiment: Potential competition from SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile service is raising fears of higher customer-acquisition costs and slower wireless growth, even though AT&T executives have downplayed the threat. AT&T and Starlink competition

About AT&T

AT&T Inc NYSE: T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and related connectivity services. Its offerings include mobile voice and data plans, internet access, fiber broadband, fixed wireless services, and business communications solutions.

The company serves consumers, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations primarily in the United States. AT&T’s business operations include wireless network services, wireline connectivity, fiber-optic internet, voice services, and networking solutions designed to connect locations, devices, and applications.

AT&T traces its history to the Bell System and has operated under its current corporate name since 2005, following the acquisition of AT&T Corp.