AT&T (NYSE:T) Price Target Raised to $27.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

AT&T (NYSE:T) had its price objective hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $26.00 to $27.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.06.

AT&T Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of T opened at $24.43 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. AT&T has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $24.58. The stock has a market cap of $175.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.51.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. Equities analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 90.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in AT&T by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in AT&T by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after buying an additional 1,546,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $378,807,000 after buying an additional 1,206,330 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.