Conning Inc. Purchases 16,024 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Conning Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 38.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 57,688 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 16,024 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of T. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 1.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,719,723,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,644 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,203,667,000 after acquiring an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $1,858,418,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of AT&T by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,779,438,000 after acquiring an additional 10,945,679 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Stock Up 0.1%

T traded up $0.02 on Friday, hitting $28.33. 21,085,177 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,473,882. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.14 and a 12 month high of $29.19. The company has a market cap of $203.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock's fifty day moving average is $27.76 and its 200-day moving average is $26.08.

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

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. AT&T's payout ratio is presently 68.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $28.90.

About AT&T

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.