GFS Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 16,515 AT&T Inc. $T

GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 16,515 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in AT&T by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 48,579 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,106,000 after buying an additional 10,188 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in AT&T by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 165,258 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,673,000 after buying an additional 22,195 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its position in AT&T by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 87,262 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,468,000 after buying an additional 8,532 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 32,427 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $917,000 after buying an additional 1,409 shares during the period. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC increased its position in AT&T by 42.3% during the 1st quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 6,041 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 1,797 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Down 1.0%

T stock opened at $25.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $184.82 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.88. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.05 and a 52 week high of $29.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 10.29%.The firm had revenue of $30.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 63.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on T. Scotiabank set a $30.25 price objective on AT&T and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. HSBC cut AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (up previously from $31.00) on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group set a $33.00 price objective on AT&T in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.75.

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.