Market Update: AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) – AT&T: Citi Cuts to Hold as Higher Treasury Rates Loom

[at Barrons.com] – Shares of AT&T (T) are down 65 cents, or 1.5%, at $42.46, after Citigroup’s Michael Rollins cut his rating on the shares to Neutral from Buy, to reflect the run-up in the shares that has accompanied several positive factors, especially low interest rates, which cannot last. Verizon shares are down 63 cents, or 1%, at $55.63. Concludes Rollins, the 10-year treasury rate “will rise over the next 6-18 months” and “valuation multiples are elevated relative to recent history and are likely to limit further upside for both shares of AT&T and Verizon.” While rates are set to rise, competition is still intense: Large-cap Telco stocks continue to benefit from a rate environment that is lower for longer. Read more on this. AT&T, Inc. (T) , valued at $260.39B, opened at $42.72. During today’s session, T traded between $42.27 to $42.90 with the price of the stock fluctuating between $30.97 to $43.89 over the last 52 weeks. AT&T (T) shares are currently priced at 15.07x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 21.80x earnings multiple for the same period. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 25 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.72 per share, which would be $0.03 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.00 sequential decrease. What we find to be interesting is that the full-year EPS estimate of $2.86 is a $0.15 better when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $40.71 Billion. If reported, that would be a 23.29% increase over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Citigroup downgraded T from Buy to Neutral (Jul 7, 2016). Previously, Buckingham Research downgraded T from Buy to Neutral. The average price target for T shares by the analysts covering the stock is $39.79, which is 6.86% below where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:T) Similar Articles: Market Update (NYSE:T): [$$] AT&T Set for Higher Cash Flow Stock Update: AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) – Despite Near-Term Noise, Wells Fargo Sees Higher Upside in Verizon and AT&T Market Update: AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) – Analyst Recommendations for AT&T: ‘Buy’ or ‘Hold’