Howard Capital Management Inc. Purchases 13,497 Shares of AT&T Inc. $T

Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 276,004 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,497 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $7,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Denali Advisors LLC increased its position in AT&T by 5.9% during the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 401,037 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,606,000 after buying an additional 22,394 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 324,104 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,380,000 after acquiring an additional 4,793 shares during the last quarter. Kickstand Ventures LLC. acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $489,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 153.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 22,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 13,370 shares during the period. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. now owns 722,568 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,910,000 after purchasing an additional 9,970 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE T opened at $25.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.76. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.38 and a 12-month high of $29.79. The company has a market capitalization of $182.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The company had revenue of $30.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.85 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (up previously from $31.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res cut AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on AT&T from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.67.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.