Motiv8 Investments LLC Purchases New Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 9,181 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in AT&T by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after buying an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 worth $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of AT&T by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in AT&T by 112.9% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,679 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Down 0.2 %

T opened at $26.60 on Thursday. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $27.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $23.73 and a 200-day moving average of $22.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued 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 was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on T. Argus 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 note on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.