AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 1.3% on Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price was up 1.3% on Friday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $24.00 to $26.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $19.08 and last traded at $19.00. Approximately 10,447,687 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 36,555,313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.75.

T has been the subject of several other reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 35,098 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 19,889 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its position in shares of AT&T by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. JB Capital LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 26,620 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 41,595 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.57 and a 200-day moving average of $17.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.68%.

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.