Palisade Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,000 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Palisade Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,671 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on T. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their target price on AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.40.

AT&T Price Performance

AT&T stock opened at $23.18 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $166.29 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $23.29.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 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.