AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 0.3% – Time to Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was up 0.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $27.23 and last traded at $27.21. Approximately 10,905,460 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 40,038,426 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.12.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.74.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.74 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $24.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.94.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of T. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp lifted its position in AT&T by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 21,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after acquiring an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is 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.