AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading Up 0.2% – Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price traded up 0.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $22.46 and last traded at $22.34. 5,100,754 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 35,419,715 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank downgraded AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $159.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.65.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.98%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 90.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in AT&T by 227.6% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 131,813 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 91,578 shares during the last quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 356.5% during the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,429 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares during the period. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its position in AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 107.5% during the second quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares during the period. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.