Meridian Financial Partners LLC Invests $269,000 in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Meridian Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,514 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on T. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Williams Trading set a $30.00 price objective on AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.71.

AT&T Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE T opened at $28.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.47. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.42 and a 52-week high of $29.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.41. 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 (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.10%.

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.