AT&T Inc. $T Stock Position Boosted by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management increased its AT&T stake by 8.6% in the third quarter, adding 97,743 shares to bring its holding to 1.24 million shares, valued at about $30.3 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.1% of AT&T shares.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: MarketBeat reports a “Moderate Buy” consensus from 12 Buy, six Hold, and one Sell rating, with an average price target of $28.55.
• AT&T beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting EPS of $0.65 and revenue of $32.32 billion; revenue grew 5.2% year over year. The company’s annualized dividend is $1.11 per share, a yield of 5.2% at the article’s quoted price.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 8.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,236,164 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 97,743 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $30,261,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,901,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 19.8% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 754,818 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $18,772,000 after purchasing an additional 124,997 shares in the last quarter. B.A. Schrock Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the third quarter valued at about $1,583,000. Orographic Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the first quarter worth about $3,449,000. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 44.1% during the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 2,451,253 shares of the technology company's stock worth $59,811,000 after buying an additional 750,364 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded AT&T from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $29.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. KeyCorp dropped their target price on AT&T from $36.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut AT&T from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AT&T from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of AT&T from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.55.

AT&T Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of T stock opened at $21.33 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.89 and a 1 year high of $29.43. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $24.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.30.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.05. AT&T had a net margin of 10.19% and a return on equity of 13.41%. The firm had revenue of $32.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $31.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, October 12th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.2%. AT&T's payout ratio is currently 60.00%.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc NYSE: T is a telecommunications company that provides wireless communications, broadband, and related connectivity services. Its offerings include mobile voice and data plans, internet access, fiber broadband, fixed wireless services, and business communications solutions.

The company serves consumers, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations primarily in the United States. AT&T’s business operations include wireless network services, wireline connectivity, fiber-optic internet, voice services, and networking solutions designed to connect locations, devices, and applications.

AT&T traces its history to the Bell System and has operated under its current corporate name since 2005, following the acquisition of AT&T Corp.

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