First Merchants Corp Acquires 2,110 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

First Merchants Corp grew its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,407 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,110 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in AT&T were worth $374,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in T. Northeast Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 51,198 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management lifted its stake in AT&T by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 24,304 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. grew its position in AT&T by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. now owns 16,905 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Socha Financial Group LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 2.5% in the third quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC now owns 18,847 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in AT&T by 1.4% during the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,468 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $25.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $25.93. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.99. The company has a market cap of $185.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. AT&T’s 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.