AT&T Inc. $T Shares Acquired by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 18.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,194,070 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 337,700 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in AT&T were worth $61,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 661,355,210 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,139,620,000 after buying an additional 10,310,560 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 321,070,509 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,291,781,000 after acquiring an additional 7,404,376 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,266,758,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 172,039,872 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,958,066,000 after purchasing an additional 2,066,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,228,655,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of AT&T from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on AT&T from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.44.

AT&T Price Performance

AT&T stock opened at $23.69 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.84 and a 1 year high of $29.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.66. The company has a market cap of $167.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.69, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.39.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The company had revenue of $30.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.85 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.72%. AT&T’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.04%.

AT&T Profile

AT&T Inc is a global telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and digital entertainment services. Its core activities include consumer and business wireless services, broadband and fiber internet, and network infrastructure. The company operates branded wireless services through AT&T Mobility and deploys fixed-line and fiber networks to deliver high-speed internet and related home services.

AT&T’s product and service portfolio spans mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and device sales, home internet (including fiber-to-the-home where available), and managed connectivity solutions for enterprise customers.