AT&T (NYSE:T) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $28.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $19.00.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on T. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.18.

AT&T Stock Down 1.5 %

AT&T stock opened at $22.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.68. AT&T has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $24.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 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 firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that AT&T will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.24%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in AT&T by 1,379.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,528,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,725 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $78,570,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

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.