Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Invests $237,000 in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,098 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its stake in AT&T by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. JB Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 26,620 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 111,852 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Schubert & Co increased its stake in AT&T by 2.0% in the third quarter. Schubert & Co now owns 32,333 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $486,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. Finally, MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its position in AT&T by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 15,637 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.81.

AT&T Trading Down 0.7 %

T traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.90. 31,792,882 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,373,371. 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 capitalization of $120.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.13, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.60. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $13.43 and a one year high of $18.16.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.57%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

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.