AT&T (NYSE:T) Given New $24.00 Price Target at Citigroup

AT&T (NYSE:T) had its target price raised by Citigroup from $21.00 to $24.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

T has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank cut shares of AT&T from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a buy rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $22.31.

AT&T Stock Down 1.2 %

T opened at $21.45 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $14.12 and a fifty-two week high of $21.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.17%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $1,118,288,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of AT&T by 1,379.0% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $152,109,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 43.3% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.