AT&T (NYSE:T) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on T. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $21.61.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE T opened at $17.56 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $125.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.96, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.57. AT&T has a twelve month low of $13.43 and a twelve month high of $19.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.38.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 11.76%. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.32%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sora Investors LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the third quarter valued at $11,265,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,258,265 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $259,219,000 after purchasing an additional 383,015 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in AT&T by 3.1% in the third quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 38,929 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. Terril Brothers Inc. grew its position in AT&T by 51.6% in the third quarter. Terril Brothers Inc. now owns 594,974 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,937,000 after purchasing an additional 202,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in AT&T by 336.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,439,745 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $22,964,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,925 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.