Avanza Fonder AB Takes Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 518,018 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,795,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in T. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth about $23,888,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 0.7 %

T stock opened at $22.17 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.79 and a 200-day moving average of $21.28. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.03. The company has a market capitalization of $159.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.01%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on T. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.83.

About AT&T

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.