Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 5,649,277 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,948,943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in AT&T by 305.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,541,724 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,918,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161,152 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 310,190 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,824,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 53,976 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 3,561 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 22.0% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 476,079 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,393,000 after purchasing an additional 85,699 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in AT&T by 1.9% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 71,192 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $26.74 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $27.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.38. The firm has a market cap of $191.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

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, beating 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%. Equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on T shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average 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.