Leuthold Group LLC Invests $3.77 Million in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Leuthold Group LLC bought a new position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 197,214 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,769,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position 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 period. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $152,109,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,086,854 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,477,000 after purchasing an additional 4,970,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,528,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,725 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank downgraded AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Daiwa America raised AT&T to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.31.

AT&T Trading Down 0.2 %

T stock opened at $21.74 on Thursday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.12 and a twelve month high of $22.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.28.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.57. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The firm’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.11%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend 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.