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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) shares were up 0.6% during 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 mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 36,084,870 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.18.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on T. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.21.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 53,432,827 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,216,665,000 after acquiring an additional 12,881,578 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,779,438,000 after purchasing an additional 10,945,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 4,986.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company's stock worth $225,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,719,036 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Trading Up 1.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $205.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $26.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. 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.