Avanza Fonder AB Increases Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. $T

Key Points

• Avanza Fonder AB increased its stake in AT&T Inc. by 3.2% during the second quarter, now holding 490,870 shares valued at approximately $14.2 million.
• AT&T's recent quarterly earnings report indicated an EPS of $0.54, surpassing analysts' expectations and showing a 3.4% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.8% and a dividend payout ratio of 63.07%.

Avanza Fonder AB lifted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 490,870 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,035 shares during the period. Avanza Fonder AB's holdings in AT&T were worth $14,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in T. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the first quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 641 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on T shares. UBS Group set a $33.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday. HSBC downgraded shares of AT&T from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank raised 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 report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (up previously from $31.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.74.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE:T traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $28.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 25,831,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,448,258. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.83. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.05 and a twelve month high of $29.79. The company has a market capitalization of $206.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. AT&T's payout ratio is currently 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.