Valley National Advisers Inc. Acquires 958 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,934 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 958 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in AT&T by 12.4% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 7,107,839 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $106,760,000 after purchasing an additional 785,100 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 3.4% during the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 313,247 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 10,287 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AT&T during the third quarter worth about $421,000. Lakeshore Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the third quarter worth about $186,000. Finally, LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 28.6% in the third quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 3,183 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Down 0.8 %

T stock opened at $18.67 on Thursday. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $19.32. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $17.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $133.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.58.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.95%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on T shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com downgraded AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on AT&T in a report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.73.

AT&T Profile

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.