First Community Trust NA Increases Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

First Community Trust NA raised its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,784 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the quarter. First Community Trust NA’s holdings in AT&T were worth $459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 0.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 523,127,988 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,070,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,985,371 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 287,304,512 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,530,602,000 after buying an additional 1,567,008 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Co boosted its holdings in AT&T by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Newport Trust Co now owns 196,653,545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,785,581,000 after buying an additional 1,337,195 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 0.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,387,114 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,581,839,000 after acquiring an additional 530,478 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 109,639,428 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,018,462,000 after acquiring an additional 29,769,976 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 53.65% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of T stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $15.23. The stock had a trading volume of 21,423,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,719,461. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.43 and a 12-month high of $20.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $14.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.64.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The technology company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. AT&T had a negative net margin of 7.22% and a positive return on equity of 15.91%. The business had revenue of $29.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 7th. AT&T’s payout ratio is -90.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Moffett Nathanson upgraded AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 6th. Citigroup raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.00.

About AT&T

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, and carrying cases and hands-free devices through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.