Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $30.50 Million Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,339,530 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 137,709 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $30,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,640 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 6,853 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. increased its position in AT&T by 81.6% during the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 25,703 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $565,000 after buying an additional 11,552 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the third quarter valued at about $718,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 62.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 194,924 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,288,000 after buying an additional 74,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essex Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 21,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.74.

AT&T Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of T stock opened at $27.15 on Monday. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $27.97. 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 fifty day moving average price of $24.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.84. The stock has a market cap of $194.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

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.