Private Portfolio Partners LLC Increases Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Private Portfolio Partners LLC increased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,144 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 841 shares during the quarter. Private Portfolio Partners LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,700,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp boosted its position in AT&T by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares in the last quarter. Fortress Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $691,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 37,961 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 15,680 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.21.

AT&T Trading Down 1.2 %

T opened at $28.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.67. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $28.61. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. 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 will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.