Sowell Financial Services LLC Buys 11,493 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sowell Financial Services LLC grew its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 256,583 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,493 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $5,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 21,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on T shares. Barclays upped their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.74.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T opened at $27.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $24.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.85 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $27.97.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 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.