Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC Purchases 55,063 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 50.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 163,855 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,063 shares during the period. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in AT&T by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 184,373 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,094,000 after buying an additional 35,984 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Mine & Arao Wealth Creation & Management LLC. now owns 10,197 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 55,995 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $940,000 after buying an additional 5,036 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Rhino Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $16.83. The stock had a trading volume of 6,501,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,964,754. The company has a market capitalization of $120.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.43 and a 12-month high of $18.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $16.96 and a 200-day moving average of $16.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.68.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.60%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on T. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. TheStreet raised shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.81.

AT&T 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.