Williams Financial LLC Invests $4.84 Million in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Williams Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 278,373 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,837,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,999,912,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,539 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 75,484,518 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,328,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,014,873 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,118,288,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,589,421 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $848,888,000 after acquiring an additional 798,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 47,377,267 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $794,978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137,792 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on AT&T in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.06.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T traded up $0.25 on Friday, hitting $19.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 24,724,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,142,744. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $18.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.58. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $13.92 and a one year high of $19.99.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.57. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.74%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

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.