Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in AT&T Inc. $T

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 11.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 81,862 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,599 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of T. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.5% in the second quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 324,104 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,380,000 after buying an additional 4,793 shares during the last quarter. Kickstand Ventures LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the second quarter valued at about $489,000. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.4% in the second quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. now owns 722,568 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,910,000 after buying an additional 9,970 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 180.5% in the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 114,091 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,302,000 after buying an additional 73,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 10.2% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 1,109,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,389,000 after buying an additional 102,419 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on T shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $31.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. UBS Group set a $33.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.75.

AT&T Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of T opened at $25.85 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.88. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.05 and a twelve month high of $29.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.07%.

AT&T 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.