Zhang Financial LLC Makes New Investment in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Zhang Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 18,441 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $420,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,341,693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149,688 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,148,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569,374 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $985,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 43.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T opened at $22.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s fifty day moving average is $22.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $26.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.83.

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.