Royal Fund Management LLC Buys 2,053 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Royal Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 182,783 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,053 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Newport Trust Company LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 0.3% in the third quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 199,998,040 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,003,971,000 after buying an additional 673,043 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 75,158,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,128,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828,237 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 130.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after purchasing an additional 32,558,342 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in AT&T by 185.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,301,000 after purchasing an additional 34,189,954 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 0.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,791,397 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $747,867,000 after purchasing an additional 327,425 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $16.85. 24,023,192 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,324,028. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $13.43 and a 1 year high of $18.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.64.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on T. TheStreet raised AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.81.

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.