New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Increases Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 11.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 415,262 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,300 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in AT&T were worth $7,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,118,288,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 34,189,954 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $316,472,000. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $152,109,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 120.8% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,086,854 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,477,000 after purchasing an additional 4,970,954 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

T stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $19.11. The stock had a trading volume of 52,825,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,874,564. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $137.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.60. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.43 and a 52-week high of $19.13.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.81%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.71.

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.