Reaves W H & Co. Inc. Acquires New Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Key Points

• Reaves W H & Co. Inc. acquired 293,768 shares of AT&T Inc. in Q1, valued at approximately $8.3 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Northern Trust Corp and Capital World Investors, significantly increased their stakes in AT&T during the fourth quarter, with over 57% of the stock now owned by institutional investors.
• AT&T declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share, representing an annualized yield of 4.0%.

Reaves W H & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 293,768 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $8,308,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of AT&T by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,779,438,000 after buying an additional 10,945,679 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 57,425,387 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,307,576,000 after purchasing an additional 2,841,837 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 53,432,827 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,216,665,000 after buying an additional 12,881,578 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in AT&T by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,032,367 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,184,717,000 after buying an additional 2,992,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in AT&T by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 47,651,898 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,085,034,000 after buying an additional 7,347,354 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on AT&T from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, HSBC cut AT&T from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.66.

AT&T Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of T stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $27.78. 25,315,959 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 33,944,896. The firm has a market cap of $198.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.42. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.86 and a fifty-two week high of $29.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.92.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. AT&T had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The business had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. AT&T's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. AT&T's payout ratio is presently 63.07%.

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.