AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price traded up 1.1% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $23.20 and last traded at $22.93. 7,894,861 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 35,390,961 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.40.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.94 and a 200-day moving average of $19.84. The company has a market cap of $163.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 90.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter worth about $23,888,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in AT&T by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Talbot Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the third quarter valued at approximately $7,438,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 12.2% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,641,856 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,486,000 after buying an additional 288,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 18.3% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after buying an additional 30,281 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.