AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading 0.6% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) traded up 0.6% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $27.50 and last traded at $27.49. 7,925,228 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 36,645,366 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.71.

AT&T Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $199.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 68.10%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,858,418,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,072,128,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 53,432,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,216,665,000 after purchasing an additional 12,881,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in AT&T by 30,527.5% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 11,959,440 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $338,213,000 after purchasing an additional 11,920,392 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.