AT&T Inc. $T Shares Bought by Valley National Advisers Inc.

Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 6.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,967 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the first quarter worth about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 182.1% in the 1st quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC now owns 993 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank lifted its stake in AT&T by 412.1% during the second quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 973 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Core Alternative Capital lifted its stake in AT&T by 125.4% during the first quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 1,021 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on T. Scotiabank upped their price target on AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AT&T from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price (up from $31.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group set a $33.00 price target on AT&T in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.74.

AT&T Stock Performance

T stock opened at $27.06 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.93. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.05 and a 52 week high of $29.79. The stock has a market cap of $193.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. AT&T had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The company had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued 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 payout ratio 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.