Canal Insurance CO Reduces Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Canal Insurance CO decreased its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 170,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Canal Insurance CO’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in AT&T by 15.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in AT&T by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 7.5% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Up 6.2 %

Shares of T stock opened at $24.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $24.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $22.80 and its 200 day moving average is $21.48.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. Research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group upped 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.83.

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.