Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Invests $9.78 Million in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 429,642 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,783,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in AT&T by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,600,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,202,000 after purchasing an additional 7,048 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in AT&T by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,555,744 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,424,000 after purchasing an additional 95,089 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in AT&T by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,021 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in AT&T by 259.7% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 71,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,632,000 after purchasing an additional 51,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH grew its position in AT&T by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 130,888 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,980,000 after purchasing an additional 16,978 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE T opened at $27.88 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.77. The company has a market cap of $200.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.11 and a 1 year high of $29.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company had revenue of $30.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on T shares. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $30.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.71.

AT&T 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.