Ascent Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 154,289 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 28,310 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $3,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,161 shares of the technology company's stock worth $596,000 after buying an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 41,716 shares of the technology company's stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 59,394 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,352,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthstream Advisors Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 12,383 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on T shares. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $28.71.

AT&T Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of AT&T stock traded down $0.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $27.37. 12,336,152 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,728,600. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $196.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $27.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.20. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.11 and a 52-week high of $29.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. AT&T's payout ratio is 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.