AT&T (NYSE:T) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $29.79 and last traded at $29.73, with a volume of 1360346 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $29.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on T shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. HSBC downgraded AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group set a $32.00 price target on AT&T in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AT&T from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.60.

AT&T Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $212.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.74.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 10.29%.AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 23.4% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 169,750 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,913,000 after acquiring an additional 32,148 shares in the last quarter. Milestones Private Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter worth about $410,000. NWF Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 50.8% in the 2nd quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,310 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 6,841 shares in the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. increased its position in AT&T by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 10,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 39.4% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 3,766,225 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $108,361,000 after buying an additional 1,064,540 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Company Profile

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.