Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,608 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,416 shares during the period. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. grew its stake in AT&T by 356.5% in the second 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 in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial increased its holdings in AT&T by 166.7% in the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 107.5% during 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. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on T shares. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective 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 raised shares of AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.06.

AT&T Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of T stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $20.84. 3,419,183 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,559,523. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.97. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.12 and a twelve month high of $20.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70.

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, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 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.