AT&T (NYSE:T) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $28.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $19.00.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.18.

AT&T Trading Down 1.5 %

T stock opened at $22.48 on Monday. AT&T has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $24.03. The business’s 50-day moving average is $22.55 and its 200 day moving average is $20.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $161.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.94%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 90.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,549,375,000 after buying an additional 5,592,123 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,341,693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149,688 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in AT&T by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,569,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 2.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $985,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,228 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.