AT&T (NYSE:T) Price Target Increased to $22.50 by Analysts at Scotiabank

AT&T (NYSE:T) had its target price lifted 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.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised shares of AT&T from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $16.59 on Thursday. AT&T has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $18.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $16.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.54.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that AT&T will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,118,288,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 185.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,301,000 after acquiring an additional 34,189,954 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 130.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after acquiring an additional 32,558,342 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $316,472,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in AT&T by 38.0% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 34,558,594 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $519,070,000 after acquiring an additional 9,518,478 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.