AT&T Inc. $T Shares Bought by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 310,547 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,470 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $8,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in T. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 48,579 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 10,188 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 24.1% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,035 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.9% during the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 14,976 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the first quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 5.0% during the first quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 38,503 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,832 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. HSBC lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America began coverage on AT&T in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Hsbc Global Res lowered AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.74.

AT&T Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $27.06 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.42. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.05 and a fifty-two week high of $29.79. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.60 and a 200 day moving average of $27.91.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The company 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.07%.

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.