AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) to Issue $0.28 Quarterly Dividend

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.2775 per share by the technology company on Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th.

AT&T has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 18.9% per year over the last three years. AT&T has a dividend payout ratio of 50.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect AT&T to earn $2.14 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.11 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.9%.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T opened at $23.63 on Friday. AT&T has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $24.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $169.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.55.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on T. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.00.

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.