Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. $T

Key Points

• Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 11.0%, acquiring an additional 13,613 shares for a total of 136,883 shares valued at approximately $3.87 million.
• AT&T reported a quarterly EPS of $0.54, exceeding expectations of $0.53, with revenue rising 3.4% year-over-year to $30.85 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.2775, leading to an annualized yield of 3.8%, with a payout ratio of 63.07%.

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 11.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 136,883 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,613 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $3,871,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in T. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 182.1% in the first quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC now owns 993 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on T. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded AT&T from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on AT&T in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.21.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T traded down $0.7110 during trading on Friday, reaching $28.7290. The company had a trading volume of 33,993,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,014,602. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.51 and a twelve month high of $29.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.36. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 10.29%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. AT&T's payout ratio is currently 63.07%.

About AT&T

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.