AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 1.3% After Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) shares traded up 1.3% on Friday after StockNews.com upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $16.82 and last traded at $16.80. 11,143,754 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 39,059,297 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.58.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on T. Oppenheimer raised shares of AT&T from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.81.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 16,250.0% in the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Pacific Financial grew its position in AT&T by 166.7% during the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,600 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lipe & Dalton acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $119.81 billion, a PE ratio of 9.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.54.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, 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 6.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.68%.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.