AT&T Inc. $T Shares Acquired by Merit Financial Group LLC

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 20.1%, acquiring an additional 76,750 shares during the second quarter, with holdings now valued at approximately $13.3 million.
• A number of hedge funds have also modified their positions, contributing to institutional investors and hedge funds owning 57.10% of the stock.
• AT&T announced a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share, with the dividend yield at 4.1% based on an annualized amount of $1.11.

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 459,082 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 76,750 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $13,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 6.0% during the second quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,006 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 66.9% during the second quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 48,785 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,412,000 after buying an additional 19,561 shares in the last quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 41.8% during the second quarter. Gemmer Asset Management LLC now owns 12,680 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 3,738 shares in the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 28.6% during the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,378 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kickstand Ventures LLC. acquired a new position in AT&T during the second quarter valued at approximately $489,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of AT&T from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.74.

AT&T Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE T opened at $27.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $28.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.92. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.05 and a 12 month high of $29.79. The company has a market capitalization of $193.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.42.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. AT&T's payout ratio is 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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