Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. Acquires New Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,801 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 18.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 396,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,928,000 after buying an additional 26,706 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on 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 raised their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.21.

AT&T Price Performance

T stock opened at $24.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $23.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.86. The company has a market capitalization of $178.38 billion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 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.