SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Buys Shares of 539,684 AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 539,684 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,289,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after buying an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after buying an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,679 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T opened at $27.45 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.56. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $27.49. The company has a market capitalization of $197.01 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 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%. Research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 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 given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 74.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on T. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.