World Equity Group Inc. Buys 1,168 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

World Equity Group Inc. grew its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,525 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 3rd 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 period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $399,467,000 after purchasing an additional 325,073 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $26.74 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $27.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.38.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. AT&T’s 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.