AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) were up 0% during mid-day 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 $28.59 and last traded at $28.49. Approximately 11,656,657 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 36,197,019 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.48.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on T. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.21.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,637,914,000 after acquiring an additional 6,220,442 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $3,719,723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640,644 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in 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 valued at $1,948,943,000 after buying an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $1,858,418,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Trading Up 1.6 %

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $205.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.