Independence Bank of Kentucky Purchases 2,037 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 48.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,243 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,037 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky’s holdings in AT&T were worth $110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in T. Morningstar Investment Services LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter valued at about $241,000. Caxton Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the third quarter worth about $249,000. United Services Automobile Association increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 16.0% in the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 186,854 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,807,000 after acquiring an additional 25,821 shares in the last quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 14.6% in the third quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 987,393 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,831,000 after acquiring an additional 125,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the third quarter worth about $928,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

AT&T Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of T stock traded up $0.36 on Friday, hitting $19.11. 52,825,162 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 33,874,564. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.57 and a 200 day moving average of $17.17. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $19.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 0.60.

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

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

AT&T 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.