US Asset Management LLC Makes New $337,000 Investment in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

US Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 20,102 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 185.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 130.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after purchasing an additional 32,558,342 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in AT&T by 38.0% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 34,558,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $519,070,000 after purchasing an additional 9,518,478 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in AT&T by 30.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 26,227,124 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $393,931,000 after buying an additional 6,137,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 43.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,739,648 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $221,242,000 after buying an additional 4,432,136 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Tigress Financial raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:T traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $17.18. The stock had a trading volume of 22,541,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,480,242. The company has a market cap of $123.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.24, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.70. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.43 and a 12 month high of $18.16.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion for 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%. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

AT&T Profile

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.