AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Acquired by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,651,898 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,347,354 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.66% of AT&T worth $1,085,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of AT&T by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,304,302 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,699,000 after acquiring an additional 93,802 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,615,824 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,407,000 after buying an additional 50,938 shares in the last quarter. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $455,000. Oribel Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,938,000. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. grew its stake in AT&T by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 55,085 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,254,000 after acquiring an additional 4,160 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on T shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.21.

AT&T Stock Down 6.8 %

Shares of T opened at $26.65 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.76. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $29.03. 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 market cap of $191.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.