Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 31,203 Shares of AT&T Inc. $T

Key Points

• Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AT&T Inc. by 22.7%, acquiring an additional 31,203 shares, bringing its total ownership to 168,805 shares valued at approximately $4.88 million.
• A variety of hedge funds, including Brighton Jones LLC and Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc., have also significantly increased their positions in AT&T, reflecting growing institutional interest in the stock.
• AT&T recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share, indicating a strong dividend yield of 4.3% and a payout ratio of 63.07% based on the company's earnings.

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 22.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 168,805 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 31,203 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $4,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in T. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 48,579 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 10,188 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,035 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 179,776 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,084,000 after acquiring an additional 3,266 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 37,968 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 2,890 shares during the period. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 15,197 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,769 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. HSBC cut shares of AT&T from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.75.

AT&T Price Performance

AT&T stock opened at $25.88 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $28.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.92. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $21.05 and a one year high of $29.79. 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 firm has a market cap of $185.05 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.44 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. AT&T's dividend 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.

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