First Western Trust Bank Invests $221,000 in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 10,050 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1,379.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 43.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $414,563,000 after buying an additional 6,602,586 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in AT&T by 7.4% during the second 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 buying an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 22.0% during the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,725 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $78,570,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of T opened at $22.68 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $162.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.75 and a one year high of $22.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lowered AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.40.

About AT&T

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.