AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0.8% – Time to Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shot up 0.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $25.58 and last traded at $25.58. 8,494,012 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 37,019,914 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on T. 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $183.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.96.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,132,000. Heritage Trust Co bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $5,219,000. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 88,850 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 9,329 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 503,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in AT&T by 50.7% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,058 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

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.