AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 1.9% – Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares rose 1.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $21.63 and last traded at $21.5410. 63,648,323 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 33% from the average session volume of 47,883,465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.13.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on T shares. Wall Street Zen raised AT&T from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on AT&T in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on AT&T from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of AT&T from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.43.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $149.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.92.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 12.49% and a net margin of 16.94%.The business had revenue of $31.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.29 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. AT&T has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.350 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 37.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,181,977,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 67.5% in the third quarter. Amundi now owns 42,295,492 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,094,184,000 after purchasing an additional 17,040,328 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 620.8% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 11,891,778 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $295,392,000 after purchasing an additional 10,241,949 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 332,089,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,249,109,000 after purchasing an additional 8,314,678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 25,155,597 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $624,865,000 after purchasing an additional 8,297,201 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc is a global telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and digital entertainment services. Its core activities include consumer and business wireless services, broadband and fiber internet, and network infrastructure. The company operates branded wireless services through AT&T Mobility and deploys fixed-line and fiber networks to deliver high-speed internet and related home services.

AT&T’s product and service portfolio spans mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and device sales, home internet (including fiber-to-the-home where available), and managed connectivity solutions for enterprise customers.