Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Purchases 14,604 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 27.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 67,557 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,604 shares during the period. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $1,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 169.2% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the third quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:T traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $22.02. The company had a trading volume of 25,556,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,214,648. The firm has a market cap of $157.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $22.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.28. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $24.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The business's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of AT&T from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.83.

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.