AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Purchased by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 16.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 32,833 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,750 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $578,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its position in shares of AT&T by 76.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 64,349 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,000 after purchasing an additional 27,961 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 51.6% during the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 191,119 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 65,050 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 96,291 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 8,186 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 740,864 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,128,000 after purchasing an additional 11,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its stake in AT&T by 18.8% during the third quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 27,171 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 4,309 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on T shares. Wolfe Research raised AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com downgraded AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.54.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of AT&T stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.40. 72,567,207 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,747,498. The company has a market cap of $131.93 billion, a PE ratio of 9.89, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $17.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.11. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.43 and a twelve month high of $18.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.03%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

About AT&T

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.