Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T – Get Rating) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,671 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 14,984 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of T. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 600,524,205 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,212,041,000 after buying an additional 3,894,916 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AT&T by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 280,895,582 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,308,938,000 after acquiring an additional 4,430,454 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 109,639,428 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,018,462,000 after acquiring an additional 29,769,976 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 85,003.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 76,836,936 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,414,568,000 after acquiring an additional 76,746,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,229,499,000. Institutional investors own 51.86% of the company’s stock.
AT&T Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:T remained flat at $15.93 during trading on Tuesday. 12,739,865 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,662,520. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.46 and a 52 week high of $21.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.41.
AT&T (NYSE:T – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. AT&T had a positive return on equity of 15.47% and a negative net margin of 7.52%. The business had revenue of $30.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.
AT&T Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 6th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -87.40%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 21st. Moffett Nathanson raised AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 6th. HSBC reduced their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, June 5th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.76.
About AT&T
AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications media and technology service. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers services to businesses and consumers located in the U.S., or in U.S. territories, and businesses globally.