Blue Trust Inc. Buys 32,394 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 38.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,130 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,394 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Advisors MI purchased a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at $4,237,000. Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,414 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 4,594 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 200,874 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,574,000 after buying an additional 22,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stablepoint Partners LLC grew its position in AT&T by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 262,384 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,974,000 after buying an additional 2,827 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.83.

AT&T Stock Up 6.2 %

Shares of T opened at $24.12 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.48. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $24.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.60%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

About AT&T

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.