AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 1.6% – Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price rose 1.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $27.24 and last traded at $27.23. Approximately 6,942,979 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 36,775,342 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial raised their price objective 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.24.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $195.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.99. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. 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.