Patton Fund Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 236,096 AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 236,096 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,194,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,999,912,000 after buying an additional 2,588,539 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,148,689,000 after buying an additional 1,569,374 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $985,307,000 after buying an additional 1,007,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 30,092,610 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $575,070,000 after buying an additional 315,580 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock remained flat at $21.71 on Thursday. 6,385,955 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,485,301. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $14.31 and a one year high of $22.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.91.

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, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.11%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on T shares. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.69.

AT&T Company 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.