Simmons Bank Boosts Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Simmons Bank lifted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,739 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,300 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its position in AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its position in AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer started coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $26.60 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $190.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $27.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.46.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.