AT&T (NYSE:T) Upgraded by Argus to Buy Rating

AT&T (NYSE:T) was upgraded by stock analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $27.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Argus’ target price indicates a potential upside of 21.10% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.83.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE:T opened at $22.30 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.29. AT&T has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $24.03. The firm has a market cap of $159.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in AT&T by 43.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $414,563,000 after acquiring an additional 6,602,586 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 110.3% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 6,155,046 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $117,623,000 after purchasing an additional 3,228,888 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of AT&T by 1,901.0% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,166,814 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $60,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

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.