Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Raises Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,901 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,048 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in 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 last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in AT&T by 15.8% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in AT&T by 112.9% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 7.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,330 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 6.2 %

AT&T stock opened at $24.12 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.48. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $24.37. The company has a market cap of $173.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.60%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.83.

AT&T Profile

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.