Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,449,243 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,108 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in AT&T were worth $55,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in 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 purchasing 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 raised 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 in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in AT&T by 112.9% during 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 buying an additional 1,546,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,330 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $26.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $188.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.59. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $26.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $23.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.20.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.