Alliancebernstein L.P. Buys 170,802 Shares of AT&T Inc. $T

Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,803,409 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 170,802 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $531,760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 18,694,708 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $528,686,000 after purchasing an additional 802,028 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 1st quarter worth $217,268,000. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,856 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,835 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 59,330 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 11,160 shares during the period. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 67,340 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,904,000 after purchasing an additional 4,995 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of T opened at $29.07 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $28.15 and a 200 day moving average of $27.57. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.92 and a fifty-two week high of $29.65. The firm has a market cap of $207.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 10.29%.The company had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 63.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price (up from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Hsbc Global Res cut AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AT&T from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.40.

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.