Country Trust Bank Acquires 4,653 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Country Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 63.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,983 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,653 shares during the quarter. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in AT&T were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of T. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank increased its position in AT&T by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after buying an additional 30,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,438,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on T. Evercore ISI increased their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.11.

AT&T Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of T stock opened at $24.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $24.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.12 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

AT&T Profile

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.