Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 89.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,004,508 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,414,413 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $84,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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 grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,640,644 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $1,858,418,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 10,945,679 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on T shares. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $29.12.

AT&T Stock Down 2.4%

AT&T stock traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $26.97. 42,637,282 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,511,220. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $27.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $194.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.55, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.42. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $18.14 and a one year high of $29.19.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.10%.

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.