AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares traded up 1.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $27.44 and last traded at $27.42. 5,882,849 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 36,562,015 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on T shares. UBS Group increased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.50 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.24.

AT&T Trading Up 1.4 %

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,637,914,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220,442 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AT&T by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after buying an additional 2,640,644 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after buying an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at $1,858,418,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.