Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 674,638 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 48,480 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $11,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 16,250.0% in the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,625 shares during the period. FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Lipe & Dalton purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Ramirez Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the third quarter valued at $30,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised shares of AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 19th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.68.

AT&T Stock Up 0.2 %

T stock opened at $16.15 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $19.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.48. The stock has a market cap of $115.52 billion, a PE ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.87%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.63%.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.