AT&T (NYSE:T) Given "Equal Weight" Rating at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays downgraded AT&T from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating, indicating a shift in sentiment toward the company's stock.
• Analysts maintain a mixed outlook on AT&T, with one rating it "strong buy," sixteen assigning a "buy" rating, and six issuing a "hold" rating.
• AT&T's stock opened at $27.55, reflecting a 2.5% decline, while the company reported quarterly earnings that exceeded analyst expectations.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reissued by investment analysts at Barclays in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $30.00 target price on the technology company's stock. Barclays's target price suggests a potential upside of 8.91% from the stock's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of AT&T from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.74.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T opened at $27.55 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.91. AT&T has a twelve month low of $21.05 and a twelve month high of $29.79. The company has a market capitalization of $196.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. AT&T had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The firm had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AT&T by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 661,355,210 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $19,139,620,000 after buying an additional 10,310,560 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in AT&T by 2.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 321,070,509 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $9,291,781,000 after buying an additional 7,404,376 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,266,758,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 1.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 172,039,872 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,958,066,000 after buying an additional 2,066,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 17.7% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 113,957,259 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,222,711,000 after buying an additional 17,177,874 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.