Aberdeen Group plc Purchases 2,859,572 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 97.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,803,532 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,859,572 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.08% of AT&T worth $164,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 182.1% during the 1st quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC now owns 993 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on T. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $31.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $29.66.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T opened at $28.76 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $29.19. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.07%.

AT&T 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.

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