L & S Advisors Inc Purchases Shares of 156,014 AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

L & S Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 156,014 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,552,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Stock Performance

T stock opened at $28.20 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $28.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $202.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $25.70 and its 200-day moving average is $23.53.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on T shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.79.

About AT&T

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.