Whipplewood Advisors LLC Makes New $71,000 Investment in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,109 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $27.45 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $27.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $197.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s fifty day moving average is $23.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.54.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on T shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

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.