Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stake in AT&T Inc. $T

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,550,679 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 35,302 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $43,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 5.9% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 401,037 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,606,000 after acquiring an additional 22,394 shares in the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 1,221,395 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,347,000 after purchasing an additional 21,720 shares in the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 324,104 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,380,000 after purchasing an additional 4,793 shares during the period. Kickstand Ventures LLC. purchased a new stake in AT&T during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $489,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 153.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 22,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 13,370 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on T. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of AT&T from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Wolfe Research downgraded AT&T from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Wall Street Zen cut AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $31.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.42.

AT&T Price Performance

AT&T stock opened at $24.19 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.38 and a 12-month high of $29.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $24.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.49 billion, a PE ratio of 7.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.39.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The company had revenue of $30.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.85 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.04%.

AT&T Profile

AT&T Inc is a global telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and digital entertainment services. Its core activities include consumer and business wireless services, broadband and fiber internet, and network infrastructure. The company operates branded wireless services through AT&T Mobility and deploys fixed-line and fiber networks to deliver high-speed internet and related home services.

AT&T’s product and service portfolio spans mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and device sales, home internet (including fiber-to-the-home where available), and managed connectivity solutions for enterprise customers.