Apella Capital LLC Acquires 5,061 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Apella Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 20.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,346 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,061 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of T. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 227.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 131,813 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 91,578 shares during the period. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 356.5% during the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,429 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 107.5% in the second quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in AT&T in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on T shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on AT&T in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.38.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $21.91. 24,545,359 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,977,004. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $157.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.12 and a 12-month high of $22.34.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. The business had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

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.