The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,821,772 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 35,809 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.10% of AT&T worth $155,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 6,220,442 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640,644 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $2,203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,948,943,000 after purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $1,858,418,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on T. Tigress Financial raised their target price on AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $28.71.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $27.66. 37,347,113 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,401,949. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.03 and a 200 day moving average of $24.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.73 and a 1-year high of $29.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.10%.

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.