Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Takes Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,076 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP bought a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:T opened at $18.65 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $13.43 and a one year high of $18.70. The company has a market cap of $133.69 billion, a PE ratio of 10.02, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $17.37 and a 200-day moving average of $17.12.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.95%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on T. StockNews.com lowered shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.54.

AT&T Company 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.