Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Acquires 12,329 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 100.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,597 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,329 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1,379.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after buying an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in AT&T in the second quarter worth about $78,570,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday. Tigress Financial upped their target price on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on AT&T in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.40.

AT&T Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:T opened at $22.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $21.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.06. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.74 and a 1-year high of $22.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.00%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.79%.

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.