Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Acquires 41,623 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,493,285 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 41,623 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $42,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of T. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 48,579 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 10,188 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 37,561 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $855,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $253,000. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $856,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 15,812 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on T shares. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.71.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $28.13. The company had a trading volume of 22,422,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,665,525. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $17.49 and a one year high of $29.03. The business's 50-day moving average is $27.41 and its 200 day moving average is $25.64.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $30.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm's revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.10%.

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.