Rakuten Securities Inc. Raises Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 43.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,597 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,756 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in T. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its stake in AT&T by 169.2% during the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of T stock opened at $26.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $186.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.94.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on T shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.74.

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.