Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 402,894 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,306,930 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 402,894 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of AT&T worth $182,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of T. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its position in AT&T by 227.6% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 131,813 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 91,578 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 356.5% in the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,429 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE boosted its position in AT&T by 169.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 107.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 807 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.53.

AT&T Price Performance

T opened at $22.57 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

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.