Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Acquires 8,607 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. grew its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 844,411 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,607 shares during the period. AT&T accounts for about 2.1% of Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $19,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC now owns 86,748 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,975,000 after purchasing an additional 28,973 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,762 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $177,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 301,417 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,863,000 after buying an additional 21,076 shares during the last quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $228,000. Finally, Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 34,922 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $795,000 after acquiring an additional 2,975 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on T. UBS Group raised their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $24.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $176.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.98.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.52%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

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.