Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Grows Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 15.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 97,860 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 13,319 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,642,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sora Investors LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth $11,265,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 38,929 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $585,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Retireful LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,163,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 46,265 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $776,000 after purchasing an additional 5,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Terril Brothers Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 51.6% during the third quarter. Terril Brothers Inc. now owns 594,974 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,937,000 after purchasing an additional 202,637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on T. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. TheStreet upgraded AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.81.

AT&T Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $16.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $120.82 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.43 and a 1 year high of $18.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

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, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.