Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,234 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,024 shares during the quarter. Charter Research & Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in T. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $14,700,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares during the period. Fortress Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $691,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 37,961 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 15,680 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on T. UBS Group boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.79.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $28.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $202.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.53. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $28.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

AT&T Profile

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.