AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Up 0.5%

Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) rose 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $20.83 and last traded at $20.68. Approximately 7,726,012 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 35,542,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on T. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Scotiabank downgraded AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Daiwa America raised AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.06.

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 stock has a market cap of $150.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.00.

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

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vantage Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 38,207 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $641,000 after buying an additional 7,762 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in AT&T by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 31,130 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $522,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its position in AT&T by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 27,770 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its position in AT&T by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 27,253 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 4,870 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.