Cerity Partners LLC Buys 220,574 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,564,886 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 220,574 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $34,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its holdings in AT&T by 19.4% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 66,883 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,472,000 after purchasing an additional 10,854 shares during the period. Certified Advisory Corp grew its holdings in AT&T by 17.7% during the third quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 34,562 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 5,195 shares during the period. Nwam LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 78.1% during the third quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 109,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 47,873 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 1.2% during the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 59,034 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,299,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 20.8% during the third quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 20,643 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 3,549 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on T shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.40.

AT&T Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of T stock opened at $23.18 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $23.29. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.94. The company has a market cap of $166.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.59.

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. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.24%.

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.