WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Acquires New Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 9,341 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortress Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $691,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

T stock opened at $25.88 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.04. The company has a market capitalization of $185.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $25.93.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on T. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

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.