AT&T (NYSE:T) Hits New 12-Month High at $21.05

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $21.05 and last traded at $20.99, with a volume of 2756071 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on T. Oppenheimer raised their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.06.

AT&T Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $155.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The firm had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AT&T

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,999,912,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588,539 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,118,288,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of AT&T by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $985,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,228 shares in the last quarter. 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.