Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,932 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Heritage Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd increased its stake in AT&T by 1,706.1% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 974,856 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $21,987,000 after purchasing an additional 920,880 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 33,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $477,000. Finally, OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its stake in AT&T by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 6,524 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on T shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.11.

AT&T Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE T opened at $23.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.68%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

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.