AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 2.4% – Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was up 2.4% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $24.32 and last traded at $24.29. Approximately 14,192,591 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 38,168,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on T shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.11.

AT&T Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $174.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $22.92 and a 200 day moving average of $21.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of T. Northeast Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 51,198 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 24,304 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. now owns 16,905 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC now owns 18,847 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,468 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $759,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.