J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Grows Position in AT&T Inc. $T

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG dramatically increased its stake in AT&T Inc. by 2,650.1% during the 2nd quarter, owning 961,766 shares valued at approximately $27.83 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their investments in AT&T, with the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raising its stake by 30,527.5% in the first quarter.
• AT&T recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.54, surpassing analysts' estimates, and announced a dividend of $0.2775 per share scheduled for November 3rd.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 2,650.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 961,766 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 926,794 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in AT&T were worth $27,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in T. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the second quarter worth $5,266,758,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 1st quarter worth about $1,072,128,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 113,957,259 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,222,711,000 after purchasing an additional 17,177,874 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its position in shares of AT&T by 30,527.5% during the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 11,959,440 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $338,213,000 after buying an additional 11,920,392 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in AT&T by 350.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,363,940 shares of the technology company's stock worth $321,372,000 after buying an additional 8,841,126 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. HSBC lowered 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. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank upped their price target on AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $33.00 price objective (up previously from $31.00) on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AT&T from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.74.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $27.55 on Thursday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $28.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.91. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.05 and a 52-week high of $29.79. The company has a market cap of $196.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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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