AT&T (NYSE:T) Raised to Buy at New Street Research

New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays upped their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.53.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $23.75 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.03. The stock has a market cap of $170.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.24 and a 200-day moving average of $20.25.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. AT&T’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.67%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.24%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in AT&T by 1,379.0% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 43.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 22.0% in the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,528,000 after buying an additional 4,511,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in AT&T during the second quarter valued at approximately $78,570,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

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.