TCW Group Inc. Buys 1,115,569 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 112.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,105,457 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,115,569 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $47,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew 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 acquiring an additional 1,546,679 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in AT&T by 7.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $378,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,330 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BNP Paribas raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup increased their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $26.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $191.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $26.72. The business’s 50 day moving average is $23.50 and its 200-day moving average is $22.30.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

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.