AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on T. Oppenheimer raised AT&T from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 19th. TheStreet raised AT&T from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AT&T from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

T opened at $16.75 on Thursday. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $18.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $16.96 and a 200-day moving average of $16.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $119.81 billion, a PE ratio of 9.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 43,337 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 10,758 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 72,868 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after buying an additional 8,236 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 18,367 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 3,388 shares in the last quarter. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 1.5% in the third quarter. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC now owns 647,260 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,722,000 after purchasing an additional 9,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its stake in AT&T by 46.2% in the third quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 9,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.