Creative Planning Buys 43,218 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Creative Planning boosted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,564,777 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,218 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in AT&T were worth $34,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,999,912,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,539 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,148,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,569,374 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $985,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 30,092,610 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $575,070,000 after acquiring an additional 315,580 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AT&T to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.69.

AT&T Trading Up 0.6 %

T stock opened at $21.85 on Monday. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.74 and a 12-month high of $22.34. The business’s 50-day moving average is $20.95 and its 200 day moving average is $18.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $156.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.57. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

About AT&T

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.