Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Makes New $375,000 Investment in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,260 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,637,914,000 after acquiring an additional 6,220,442 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after buying an additional 2,640,644 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after buying an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,858,418,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in AT&T by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,779,438,000 after purchasing an additional 10,945,679 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on T. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $31.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.12.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $26.87. 11,597,834 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,392,105. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.14 and a 1 year high of $29.19.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). AT&T had a net margin of 9.64% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The business had revenue of $30.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.10%.

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.