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

DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. DZ Bank currently has $27.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.11.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $24.23 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.55. AT&T has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $24.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,341,693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149,688 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $399,467,000 after purchasing an additional 325,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in AT&T by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Company Profile

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.