TCW Group Inc. Increases Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 518.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 989,888 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 829,950 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $21,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in AT&T by 1,379.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after buying an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $414,563,000 after acquiring an additional 6,602,586 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 22.0% in the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,725 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the second quarter worth $78,570,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE T opened at $23.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $22.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.72%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.00.

About AT&T

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.