Clarius Group LLC Purchases 3,539 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Clarius Group LLC boosted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,943 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,539 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 12.2% in the first quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 17,888 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 62.3% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 24,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 9,450 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 23.1% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,099,843 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,983,000 after acquiring an additional 206,434 shares during the period. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 5.5% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 476,601 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,262,000 after acquiring an additional 25,028 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1,191.3% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 12,706 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 11,722 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $16.31 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.10 and a 200 day moving average of $16.45. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.43 and a 12 month high of $19.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Wolfe Research raised AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.68.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.