Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $1.11 Million Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 9.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,248 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,455 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in AT&T by 1,379.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 120.8% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,086,854 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,477,000 after purchasing an additional 4,970,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,528,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,725 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on T. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Scotiabank cut AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.38.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $21.87 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $14.23 and a 52-week high of $22.34. The stock has a market cap of $156.81 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.57. The business had revenue of $29.80 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.08%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

AT&T Company 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.