AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 2.4% – Here’s Why

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares shot up 2.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $22.13 and last traded at $21.8950. 47,441,598 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 48,887,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.39.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on T. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Arete Research decreased their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on AT&T from $33.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Friday, October 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.56.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $145.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.68, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.91.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.41% and a net margin of 10.19%. The company had revenue of $32.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 12th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,310,898,000. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,223,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the second quarter valued at approximately $960,695,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in AT&T by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 334,273,613 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,919,464,000 after acquiring an additional 18,468,679 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new position in AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $259,954,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and related connectivity services. Its offerings include mobile voice and data plans, internet access, fiber broadband, fixed wireless services, and business communications solutions.

The company serves consumers, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations primarily in the United States. AT&T’s business operations include wireless network services, wireline connectivity, fiber-optic internet, voice services, and networking solutions designed to connect locations, devices, and applications.

AT&T traces its history to the Bell System and has operated under its current corporate name since 2005, following the acquisition of AT&T Corp.