StockNews.com Upgrades AT&T (NYSE:T) to “Buy”

AT&T (NYSE:T) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on T. TheStreet raised AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research raised AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays raised their price target on AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.81.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE:T opened at $16.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.57. AT&T has a 1 year low of $13.43 and a 1 year high of $18.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in T. Sora Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth $11,265,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,258,265 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $259,219,000 after purchasing an additional 383,015 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 38,929 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $585,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Retireful LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $1,163,000. Finally, Terril Brothers Inc. lifted its position in AT&T by 51.6% during the 3rd quarter. Terril Brothers Inc. now owns 594,974 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,937,000 after acquiring an additional 202,637 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.