AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 1.3% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) traded up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $26.76 and last traded at $26.52. 11,297,274 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 36,802,156 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.24.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $192.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.97.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,667,000 after acquiring an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 53,432,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,216,665,000 after purchasing an additional 12,881,578 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,779,438,000 after purchasing an additional 10,945,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $225,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,719,036 shares during the last quarter. 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.