Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Takes Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,884 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $111,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new position in AT&T in the second quarter worth approximately $23,888,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake 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 worth $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after buying an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on T. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $26.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.83.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE:T opened at $22.30 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $24.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $159.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.35.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.98%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.24%.

About AT&T

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.