Bridgewater Associates LP Purchases 5,188,460 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 402.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,478,108 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,188,460 shares during the period. AT&T comprises 0.7% of Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Bridgewater Associates LP owned approximately 0.09% of AT&T worth $147,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in AT&T by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 59,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. grew its stake in AT&T by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 12,383 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Investment Management increased its position in shares of AT&T by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 51,198 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of T stock opened at $27.22 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $26.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.03. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $29.03. The company has a market cap of $195.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.24.

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.