AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Stake Lifted by Wesbanco Bank Inc.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 50.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 358,813 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 120,357 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $6,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of T. Sora Investors LLC bought a new stake in AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at $11,265,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.1% during the third quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 38,929 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. Retireful LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $1,163,000. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in AT&T by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 46,265 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $776,000 after buying an additional 5,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Terril Brothers Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 51.6% during the 3rd quarter. Terril Brothers Inc. now owns 594,974 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,937,000 after buying an additional 202,637 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on T shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. TheStreet raised shares of AT&T from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE T traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $16.82. 32,184,793 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,289,055. The company's 50-day moving average price is $16.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.62. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.43 and a 1-year high of $18.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The business's quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

AT&T Profile

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.

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