Providence First Trust Co Invests $996,000 in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 43,721 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,341,693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149,688 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in AT&T by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in AT&T by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $399,467,000 after purchasing an additional 325,073 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $27.45 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $197.01 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $27.49.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on T. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

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.