AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 0.2%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) traded up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $19.99 and last traded at $19.51. 16,481,945 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 36,660,969 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on T. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $18.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.57. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The business had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.75%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 59.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of T. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $1,118,288,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $316,472,000. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $152,109,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in AT&T by 120.8% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,086,854 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $152,477,000 after purchasing an additional 4,970,954 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.