AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $22.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on T. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on AT&T in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank lowered AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Citigroup increased their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.40.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $22.18. The company had a trading volume of 7,311,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,623,570. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $159.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.60. AT&T has a 12-month low of $14.74 and a 12-month high of $22.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.08.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. AT&T’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 63.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in T. Hayek Kallen Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hayek Kallen Investment Management now owns 60,271 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 73,562 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $484,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 23,650 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthCare Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC now owns 24,138 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

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.