AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading 1.7% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) traded up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $30.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $27.77 and last traded at $27.66. 9,324,390 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 42,458,500 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.19.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on T. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Securities upped their price target on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $28.62.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Trading Up 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.96 and a 200-day moving average of $24.35.

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

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.10%.

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.