AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading 0.9% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) traded up 0.9% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $21.76 and last traded at $21.71. 4,018,139 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 35,531,254 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.51.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AT&T from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Daiwa America raised AT&T to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.69.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.89. The company has a market capitalization of $155.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.60.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in T. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,999,912,000 after buying an additional 2,588,539 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in AT&T by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in AT&T by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,689,000 after buying an additional 1,569,374 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $985,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,228 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.1% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 30,092,610 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $575,070,000 after acquiring an additional 315,580 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.