Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $18.75 Million Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,117,192 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,633 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in AT&T were worth $18,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 0.3% during the third quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 199,998,040 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,003,971,000 after purchasing an additional 673,043 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of AT&T by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 75,158,354 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,128,878,000 after buying an additional 1,828,237 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AT&T by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,270,173 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $905,258,000 after buying an additional 334,222 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 130.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $863,884,000 after buying an additional 32,558,342 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 185.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,301,000 after purchasing an additional 34,189,954 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of AT&T stock traded down $0.21 on Monday, reaching $16.31. 54,168,625 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,780,043. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.43 and a twelve month high of $18.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.32, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $16.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.53.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.01). AT&T had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 11.76%. The firm had revenue of $32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.81%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Oppenheimer upgraded AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

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.