AT&T (NYSE:T) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $26.75 and last traded at $26.91, with a volume of 2031383 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $26.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on T. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

AT&T Trading Down 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business’s 50-day moving average is $23.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.43. The firm has a market cap of $191.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 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 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

About AT&T

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.