Blair William & Co. IL Acquires 17,001 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 406,190 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,001 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in AT&T were worth $7,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vantage Financial Partners LLC grew its position in AT&T by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 38,207 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $641,000 after acquiring an additional 7,762 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 31,130 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 27,770 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 1,194 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 27,253 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 4,870 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 250.3% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 67,303 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 48,091 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T opened at $21.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $154.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.12 and a twelve month high of $22.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.88 and a 200 day moving average of $18.34.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.57. The firm had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.16%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. BNP Paribas raised AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on AT&T in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.31.

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.