Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Purchases 652,246 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,593,188 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 652,246 shares during the quarter. AT&T comprises about 8.3% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned 0.38% of AT&T worth $628,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $225,741,000 after buying an additional 9,719,036 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in AT&T by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 47,651,898 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,085,034,000 after buying an additional 7,347,354 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.4%

T stock opened at $27.72 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.18 and a 200-day moving average of $24.92. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.11 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The company has a market capitalization of $199.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. AT&T's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on T shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.71.

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.

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