AT&T (NYSE:T) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on T. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (up from $31.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Williams Trading set a $33.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. HSBC lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $30.25 price target on AT&T and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.67.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE:T opened at $24.81 on Friday. AT&T has a 12-month low of $21.38 and a 12-month high of $29.79. The firm has a market cap of $175.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. AT&T had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The business had revenue of $30.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the second quarter worth about $5,266,758,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,228,655,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,072,128,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 113,957,259 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,222,711,000 after purchasing an additional 17,177,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its position in shares of AT&T by 30,527.5% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.