AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Down 0.1%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) was down 0.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $17.00 and last traded at $17.06. Approximately 4,735,313 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 38,424,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.08.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on T shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. TheStreet upgraded shares of AT&T from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised shares of AT&T from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Performance

The firm's 50-day moving average is $16.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.69. The stock has a market cap of $122.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.49%. AT&T's payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in AT&T by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 622,406,459 shares of the technology company's stock worth $10,443,980,000 after purchasing an additional 2,155,232 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 199,998,040 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,003,971,000 after buying an additional 673,043 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 75,484,518 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,328,528,000 after buying an additional 4,014,873 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in AT&T by 2.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 75,158,354 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,128,878,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828,237 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $1,118,288,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Company Profile

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.