Bard Financial Services Inc. Raises Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Bard Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 263,775 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,060 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $4,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 159.7% in the first quarter. Steward Financial Group LLC now owns 1,561 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the first quarter worth about $31,000. FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Lakewood Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Sageworth Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the first quarter worth about $32,000. 53.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on T. Citigroup upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective 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. StockNews.com started coverage on AT&T in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of AT&T from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Nine equities research 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

AT&T Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $15.23 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $14.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.43 and a twelve month high of $20.50. The stock has a market cap of $108.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.64.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The technology company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $29.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

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

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