Meridian Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,044 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew 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 valued at $1,948,943,000 after acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 valued at $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew 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 valued at $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,546,679 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of 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. Tigress Financial raised their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.45.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock opened at $27.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $198.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $24.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.64. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $27.86. 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 issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio 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.