Sowell Financial Services LLC Increases Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 256,583 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,493 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $5,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $225,741,000 after buying an additional 9,719,036 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 33,963,826 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $753,318,000 after acquiring an additional 5,614,168 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of T opened at $27.15 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.30 and its 200 day moving average is $22.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $27.97. The company has a market capitalization of $194.85 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given 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 dividend yield of 4.09%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on T shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.74.

AT&T Company 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.