Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Makes New Investment in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,469,393 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,255,000.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on T shares. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.21.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $26.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $29.03. The firm 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $26.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.73.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

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