AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Purchased by Johnson Financial Group Inc.

Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 21.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,780 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,793 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $14,700,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Group increased its position in AT&T by 196.3% during the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Group now owns 216,980 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,322,000 after purchasing an additional 143,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in AT&T by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 237,477 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,407,000 after buying an additional 63,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on T shares. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Monday, April 7th. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Williams Trading set a $30.00 price objective on AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $28.71.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE T traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $27.53. The company had a trading volume of 13,189,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 42,022,715. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.73 and a 12 month high of $29.03. The stock has a market cap of $197.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $27.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.41.

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

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's payout ratio is currently 68.10%.

AT&T 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.