M&G Plc Purchases New Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 504,124 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,074,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in AT&T by 22.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,979,779 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,736,000 after purchasing an additional 359,198 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Naples Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 21,846 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 1,726 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 53.2% during the 4th quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 42,812 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $718,000 after acquiring an additional 14,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 11,391 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $191,000 after acquiring an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Down 0.2 %

T stock traded down $0.03 on Friday, hitting $19.12. 29,910,308 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 32,990,166. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.89 and a 12-month high of $19.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $18.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $137.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.58.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.81%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on AT&T from $22.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.85.

AT&T 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.