Viking Fund Management LLC Has $1.32 Million Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Viking Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 15.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter worth $30,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the period. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com cut AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.54.

AT&T Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of AT&T stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Thursday, hitting $18.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 26,088,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,751,367. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.43 and a 52 week high of $18.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.14. The company has a market capitalization of $134.44 billion, a PE ratio of 10.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.92%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

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.