AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 0.3% – Still a Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price rose 0.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $27.23 and last traded at $27.21. Approximately 10,905,460 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 40,038,426 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on T. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Argus upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.74.

AT&T Stock Down 4.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $186.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.94.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released 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 analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in T. Anchor Pointe Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at $467,000. Old North State Trust LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 22,344 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. TFR Capital LLC. acquired a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. Buska Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Buska Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,391 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $305,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.