AT&T (NYSE:T) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $32.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $28.61 and last traded at $28.49, with a volume of 43976615 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $28.28.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on T. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.21.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in T. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $201.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $26.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

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.