Ardmore Road Asset Management LP Purchases 600,000 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Ardmore Road Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 66.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,500,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 600,000 shares during the quarter. AT&T makes up approximately 5.0% of Ardmore Road Asset Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Ardmore Road Asset Management LP’s holdings in AT&T were worth $34,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in T. Norges Bank bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after buying an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 4,986.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $225,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,719,036 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,637,914,000 after buying an additional 6,220,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:T opened at $28.49 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $204.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $28.61.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (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%. Equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on T shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.21.

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.