AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0.6% – Here’s What Happened

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price rose 0.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $26.04 and last traded at $26.02. Approximately 10,068,070 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 36,840,930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.87.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $187.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s fifty day moving average is $23.28 and its 200 day moving average is $22.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,637,914,000 after acquiring an additional 6,220,442 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AT&T by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,719,723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640,644 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in AT&T by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,948,943,000 after purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $1,858,418,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.