Thompson Investment Management Inc. Buys 1,216 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Thompson Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,762 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,216 shares during the quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 301,417 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,863,000 after acquiring an additional 21,076 shares in the last quarter. Hobart Private Capital LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $228,000. Seelaus Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 34,922 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 2,975 shares during the period. Santori & Peters Inc. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Santori & Peters Inc. now owns 13,351 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D Orazio & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 17,596 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 4,309 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T opened at $24.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $176.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $24.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $23.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.84.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on T shares. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.21.

AT&T Profile

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.