Center For Asset Management LLC Takes Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Center For Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 71,869 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,636,000. AT&T accounts for about 1.1% of Center For Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. 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 last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in AT&T by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service boosted 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.83.

AT&T Stock Up 0.7 %

AT&T stock opened at $22.69 on Monday. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $24.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $162.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.48.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.24%.

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.