AT&T (NYSE:T) Rating Increased to Outperform at Royal Bank of Canada

AT&T (NYSE:T) was upgraded by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $26.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $22.00. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 14.69% from the stock’s previous close.

T has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.76.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T opened at $22.67 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $162.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 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 has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $24.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.11.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in T. Candriam S.C.A. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 503,692 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,625,000 after acquiring an additional 35,723 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 227.6% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 131,813 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 91,578 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 14.7% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 71,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,361,000 after buying an additional 9,147 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 202.3% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 822,797 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,718,000 after acquiring an additional 550,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 44.2% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 165,710 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,167,000 after acquiring an additional 50,760 shares during the period. 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.