AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Acquired by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,044,177 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,007,923 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.17% of AT&T worth $274,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.21.

AT&T Stock Down 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $26.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.73. The company has a market capitalization of $191.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $29.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

About AT&T

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.