AT&T (NYSE:T) Upgraded to Buy at New Street Research

New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on T. Tigress Financial raised their price target on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.73.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $23.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.30. AT&T has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $24.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of T. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at $23,888,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in AT&T by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after acquiring an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Talbot Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,438,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,641,856 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,486,000 after purchasing an additional 288,093 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.