Equitable Trust Co. Increases Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Equitable Trust Co. raised its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 81.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,703 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,552 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in AT&T by 1,379.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $270,581,000 after purchasing an additional 13,201,774 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 6,602,586 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 4,511,725 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $78,570,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:T opened at $22.34 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.46 and a one year high of $22.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.54.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.97%. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Daiwa America raised AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.40.

About AT&T

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.