Sanctuary Advisors LLC Grows Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 15.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,100,943 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 144,119 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $25,520,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1,379.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $270,581,000 after purchasing an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 43.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $414,563,000 after buying an additional 6,602,586 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in AT&T by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,549,375,000 after buying an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company's stock worth $477,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $78,570,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer began coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AT&T to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $25.00.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE T traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $23.59. The company had a trading volume of 15,755,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,439,563. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $24.03. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $22.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.51. 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 $169.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.24%.

AT&T 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.