AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Rating Upgraded by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $26.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $22.00.

T has been the topic of several other reports. Hsbc Global Res raised AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.76.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $22.20 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $159.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s fifty day moving average is $22.83 and its 200 day moving average is $21.18. AT&T has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $24.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.00%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in T. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,888,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after buying an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,438,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Company Profile

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.