AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Stake Lifted by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 5.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 115,159 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,549 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 227.6% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 131,813 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 91,578 shares in the last quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 356.5% during the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,429 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the period. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 107.5% during the second quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on AT&T in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.38.

AT&T Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $22.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.58. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.12 and a 52 week high of $22.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $158.68 billion, a PE ratio of 11.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.68%.

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.