Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Acquires 340,151 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 148.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 569,243 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 340,151 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $12,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in AT&T by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 965,383 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $21,238,000 after acquiring an additional 16,024 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc bought a new stake in AT&T during the third quarter worth about $245,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 9.5% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 23,011 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 2,005 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in AT&T by 1,561.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 496,493 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,915,000 after purchasing an additional 466,616 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of T stock opened at $23.88 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $24.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $171.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.32 and a 200 day moving average of $20.30.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.65%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on T. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Moffett Nathanson boosted their target price on AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.73.

AT&T Company 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.