AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Purchased by Private Management Group Inc.

Private Management Group Inc. raised its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,802 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,042 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,341,693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149,688 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in AT&T by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 7.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $378,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,330 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in AT&T by 15.8% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Down 0.1 %

T opened at $24.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.75. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $24.98.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.21.

AT&T 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.