AT&T (NYSE:T) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $26.00 to $28.50. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. AT&T traded as high as $27.63 and last traded at $27.68, with a volume of 3616825 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.41.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on T. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.45.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $305,000. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $520,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $62,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $103,079,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,304,302 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,699,000 after purchasing an additional 93,802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $198.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

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.