Kovack Advisors Inc. Has $3.36 Million Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 147,414 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,779 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,948,943,000 after buying an additional 5,649,277 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after buying an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 15.8% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 112.9% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,167,000 after buying an additional 1,546,679 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on T shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

T opened at $26.60 on Thursday. 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 $27.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.46. The stock has a market cap of $190.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

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.