Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,506 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 15,770 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its position in shares of AT&T by 169.2% in the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $25.88 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $25.93. The stock has a market cap of $185.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $23.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.04.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

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.