Kestra Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,980 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 604 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in AT&T by 305.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,541,724 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,918,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161,152 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in AT&T by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 58,961 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 292,688 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,439,000 after acquiring an additional 49,590 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 45.8% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 247,992 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,456,000 after purchasing an additional 77,849 shares during the period. Finally, Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 35.0% during the third quarter. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. now owns 31,629 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 8,196 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock opened at $26.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $26.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.20. The company has a market capitalization of $188.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

AT&T 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.