Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Boosts Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 31.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,078,118 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 496,884 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $47,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 2.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 worth $1,341,693,000 after buying an additional 1,149,688 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in AT&T by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,689,000 after buying an additional 1,569,374 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $985,307,000 after buying an additional 1,007,228 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in AT&T by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 28,113,880 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $537,256,000 after acquiring an additional 675,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of T traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $22.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,960,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,815,340. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $22.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.28. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. AT&T’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.05%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer began coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.83.

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.