Bell Bank Acquires 5,643 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Bell Bank lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 384,065 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,643 shares during the period. AT&T makes up approximately 0.6% of Bell Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Bell Bank’s holdings in AT&T were worth $10,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of T. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th 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 during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 31.8% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 12,881,578 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position 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 during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on T. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Monday, April 7th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price objective on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.71.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $27.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $27.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.69. 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 1-year low of $17.49 and a 1-year high of $29.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly 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). AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The business had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 68.10%.

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.