Essex Financial Services Inc. Acquires 8,837 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 95,643 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 8,837 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,178,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of T. Northeast Investment Management grew its position in AT&T by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 51,198 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the third quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 24,304 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. grew its position in AT&T by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. now owns 16,905 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 2.5% during the third quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC now owns 18,847 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Finally, Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,468 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $759,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the topic of several recent research reports. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE T opened at $24.86 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $24.98. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.86. 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 $178.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

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.