AT&T (NYSE:T) Trading 1% Higher – Time to Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shot up 1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $25.07 and last traded at $25.11. 9,385,302 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 37,031,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on T. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. 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. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.21.

AT&T Price Performance

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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.90. The firm has a market cap of $180.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased its holdings in AT&T by 169.2% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 841 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

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.