Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Buys 1,789,166 Shares of AT&T Inc. $T

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in AT&T Inc. by 24.0% in Q1, acquiring over 1.7 million shares to hold approximately 9.23 million shares valued at $261 million.
• Several other institutional investors, including Vanguard and GQG Partners, also boosted their holdings in AT&T, with institutional investors now owning 57.10% of the company's stock.
• AT&T reported earnings of $0.54 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share, providing a yield of 3.8%.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 24.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,230,160 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,789,166 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.13% of AT&T worth $261,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capstone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 1st quarter worth approximately $201,000. DigitalBridge Group Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 2,865,814 shares of the technology company's stock worth $65,255,000 after buying an additional 365,776 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 123,247 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,302,000 after buying an additional 9,027 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 1,109,933 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,389,000 after buying an additional 102,419 shares during the period. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY boosted its position in AT&T by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 129,428 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,660,000 after purchasing an additional 8,989 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $31.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.21.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $29.29. The company had a trading volume of 26,535,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,711,526. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.62 and a 52 week high of $29.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.11 and a 200-day moving average of $27.52. The firm has a market cap of $209.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.64, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.44 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The business's revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. On average, sell-side 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 was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. AT&T's payout ratio is currently 63.07%.

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.