The Goldman Sachs Group Initiates Coverage on AT&T (NYSE:T)

Equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 15.12% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on T. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.73.

AT&T Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE T opened at $19.11 on Monday. AT&T has a one year low of $13.43 and a one year high of $19.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in AT&T by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 7,107,839 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $106,760,000 after purchasing an additional 785,100 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 3.4% in the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 313,247 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,705,000 after acquiring an additional 10,287 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth about $421,000. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new position in AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at about $186,000. Finally, LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 3,183 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

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.