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

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) shares rose 0.6% on Wednesday after Tigress Financial raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $34.00. Tigress Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $27.89 and last traded at $27.48. Approximately 8,516,047 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 41,952,195 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.30.

T has been the subject of a number of other research reports. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Argus raised AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.71.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,637,914,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220,442 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640,644 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,948,943,000 after acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $1,858,418,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Trading Up 0.5 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.00 and a 200 day moving average of $24.41. The firm has a market cap of $197.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company's revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.10%.

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.

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