National Pension Service Grows Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

National Pension Service raised its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,288,624 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 257,978 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in AT&T were worth $222,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 185.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,301,000 after purchasing an additional 34,189,954 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 130.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after purchasing an additional 32,558,342 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of AT&T by 38.0% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 34,558,594 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $519,070,000 after purchasing an additional 9,518,478 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in AT&T by 30.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 26,227,124 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $393,931,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 43.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,739,648 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $221,242,000 after acquiring an additional 4,432,136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of AT&T stock traded up $0.02 on Thursday, reaching $17.13. The company had a trading volume of 9,302,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,333,422. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.69. The firm has a market cap of $122.83 billion, a PE ratio of 9.20, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.43 and a 52-week high of $18.16. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The business’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on T. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.81.

AT&T Company 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.