Kessler Investment Group LLC Acquires Shares of 19,464 AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Kessler Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 19,464 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in AT&T by 1,379.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $270,581,000 after purchasing an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in AT&T by 43.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in AT&T by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares during the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its position in AT&T by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,528,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth $78,570,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Stock Down 0.7 %

T stock traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $21.51. 11,150,768 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 35,389,320. The stock has a market cap of $154.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.74 and a fifty-two week high of $22.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.01.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.16%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on T shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on AT&T in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price target on AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.69.

AT&T Profile

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.