Principal Securities Inc. Purchases 15,309 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 133,688 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 15,309 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. bLong Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $375,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 49,864 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,705 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in AT&T by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 44,020 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,346 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $25.88 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $25.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $23.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.08. The stock has a market cap of $185.66 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. On average, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on T. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target 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. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

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.