Employees Retirement System of Texas Raises Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,304,302 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 93,802 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in AT&T were worth $29,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on T shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank upped their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.21.

AT&T Price Performance

T stock opened at $26.65 on Monday. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $29.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $191.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.76.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

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.