Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 397,762 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 49.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,201,821 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 397,762 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $26,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1,379.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after purchasing an additional 13,201,774 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 43.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $414,563,000 after acquiring an additional 6,602,586 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,528,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in AT&T in the second quarter valued at about $78,570,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

T stock opened at $23.18 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $23.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $166.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s fifty day moving average is $22.02 and its 200-day moving average is $19.94.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on T shares. Moffett Nathanson lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup increased their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

AT&T 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.