Scotiabank Raises AT&T (NYSE:T) Price Target to $22.50

AT&T (NYSE:T) had its price objective increased by Scotiabank from $22.00 to $22.50 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

T has been the topic of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer upgraded AT&T from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com cut AT&T from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays raised 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $20.81.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $16.75 on Thursday. AT&T has a twelve month low of $13.43 and a twelve month high of $18.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $16.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.57. The company has a market capitalization of $119.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.01, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 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 net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc raised its position in shares of AT&T by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 35,098 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in AT&T by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 26,620 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 41,595 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connecticut Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,601 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is 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.