Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Buys 20,517 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 922,851 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 20,517 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $21,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of T. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $225,741,000 after buying an additional 9,719,036 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after buying an additional 5,649,277 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 33,963,826 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $753,318,000 after buying an additional 5,614,168 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after buying an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $26.02 on Wednesday. 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 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $27.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.94. The stock has a market cap of $186.74 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer started coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.74.

AT&T Company Profile

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.