Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 132,640 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,986 shares during the period. AT&T makes up approximately 1.4% of Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,341,693,000 after buying an additional 1,149,688 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,057,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,208,123,000 after purchasing an additional 414,984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 33,963,826 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $753,318,000 after acquiring an additional 5,614,168 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.74.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T opened at $27.15 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $24.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.84. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $27.97. The company has a market cap of $194.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

AT&T Company 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.