Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Boosts Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas raised its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 16.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 29,661 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,082 shares during the quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in AT&T were worth $675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after buying an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 15.8% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 112.9% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546,679 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,330 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on T shares. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.83.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $22.69 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.44. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $24.03. The company has a market cap of $162.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The company 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%. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

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.