Ferguson Shapiro LLC Grows Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Ferguson Shapiro LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,143 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 739 shares during the period. Ferguson Shapiro LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of T. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 12,593 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 157,208 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,580,000 after purchasing an additional 11,937 shares in the last quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 153,077 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,486,000 after purchasing an additional 2,354 shares in the last quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,542,000. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,386,263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,105,000 after purchasing an additional 86,548 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Down 0.7 %

T opened at $24.23 on Thursday. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $24.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $22.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.11.

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.