Vest Financial LLC Boosts Stock Position in AT&T Inc. $T

Key Points

• Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 31.3% during Q2, now holding 156,533 shares valued at approximately $4.53 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.11 and a yield of 4.3%.
• Analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for AT&T, with an average price target of $30.75 following various recent upgrades.

Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 31.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,533 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 37,349 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $4,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,266,758,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,072,128,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in 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 during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its position in AT&T by 30,527.5% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 11,959,440 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $338,213,000 after purchasing an additional 11,920,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in AT&T by 350.4% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,363,940 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $321,372,000 after purchasing an additional 8,841,126 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America initiated coverage on AT&T in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AT&T from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.75.

AT&T Stock Down 1.2%

T stock opened at $25.57 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.05 and a twelve month high of $29.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $182.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $28.41 and a 200 day moving average of $27.86.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 10.29%.The company had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.07%.

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.

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