FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Boosts Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH boosted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,162 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,213 shares during the quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the third quarter worth $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its stake in AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the third quarter worth about $35,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of T opened at $22.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.79 and a 200 day moving average of $21.29. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.98%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.83.

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.