Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Acquires 13,680 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 582,923 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,680 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $13,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased 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 worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Securities increased their target price on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $31.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.62.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T stock traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $26.80. 37,042,995 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,505,396. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.73 and a 12 month high of $29.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.35.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio 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.