Arete Research Upgrades AT&T (NYSE:T) to “Neutral”

AT&T (NYSE:T) was upgraded by Arete Research from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Finviz reports. The firm presently has a $28.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Arete Research’s target price suggests a potential upside of 1.68% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on T. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 16th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $29.50 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on AT&T from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of AT&T from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.35.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T opened at $27.54 on Tuesday. AT&T has a twelve month low of $22.95 and a twelve month high of $29.79. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $192.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.39.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 17.47% and a return on equity of 12.33%. The company had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. AT&T has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.350 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that AT&T will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in AT&T by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 189,293 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,346,000 after buying an additional 31,935 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in AT&T by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 12,810,872 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $361,779,000 after acquiring an additional 49,727 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 1,411,031 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,848,000 after purchasing an additional 66,448 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 18,133,054 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $512,077,000 after purchasing an additional 248,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in AT&T by 140.8% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,888,630 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $81,575,000 after buying an additional 1,689,073 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting AT&T

Here are the key news stories impacting AT&T this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AT&T reported a recent quarterly earnings beat and raised FY2026 EPS guidance framework, showing operating momentum and profit resilience. (Q4 results and FY26 guidance.)
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partnerships aimed at AI use cases — notably a tie-up with AWS to support last‑mile AI workloads — strengthen AT&T’s positioning as a carrier for AI-era enterprise services. AT&T pairs with AWS
• Positive Sentiment: Some brokerviews are constructive: Scotiabank raised its price target to $31 (sector perform) and consensus brokerage ratings remain broadly favorable, which supports upside if execution is strong. Benzinga note
• Neutral Sentiment: Management is rolling out new segment reporting starting with Q1 2026 to improve transparency on returns from 5G and fiber investments — helpful for investors evaluating capital allocation over time. Deutsche Bank presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Company publicity around its 150th anniversary underscores brand legacy but has limited direct market impact. 150th anniversary release
• Negative Sentiment: AT&T announced plans to invest more than $250 billion over five years to expand U.S. network infrastructure — a huge capex commitment that raises near-term free cash flow and financing concerns, and likely explains downward pressure on the stock today. Investors are weighing execution risk, timing of returns, and potential impacts on leverage (debt-to-equity ~1.0). Reuters: $250B plan Business Insider: $250B analysis PR Newswire: corporate release

About AT&T

AT&T Inc is a global telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and digital entertainment services. Its core activities include consumer and business wireless services, broadband and fiber internet, and network infrastructure. The company operates branded wireless services through AT&T Mobility and deploys fixed-line and fiber networks to deliver high-speed internet and related home services.

AT&T’s product and service portfolio spans mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and device sales, home internet (including fiber-to-the-home where available), and managed connectivity solutions for enterprise customers.