AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 1% – What’s Next?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shot up 1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $25.93 and last traded at $25.88. 31,683,390 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 38,630,956 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.63.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on 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 assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $23.23 and a 200 day moving average of $22.08. The stock has a market cap of $185.66 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 10,945,679 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 47,651,898 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,085,034,000 after purchasing an additional 7,347,354 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.