Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 3,010 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 13.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,195 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,010 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 53,432,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,216,665,000 after purchasing an additional 12,881,578 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in AT&T by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,779,438,000 after buying an additional 10,945,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on T. Wall Street Zen raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Williams Trading set a $30.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.71.

AT&T Stock Up 2.0%

AT&T stock opened at $28.42 on Wednesday. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $17.42 and a one year high of $29.03. The stock has a market cap of $204.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.31 and a 200 day moving average of $25.54.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, 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 given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 68.10%.

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.