Ferguson Shapiro LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Ferguson Shapiro LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,143 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 739 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Shapiro LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,546,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,206,330 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on T. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.11.

AT&T Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $24.23 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $22.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.55. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $24.98. The stock has a market cap of $173.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.24%.

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.