AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Stake Lifted by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 922,851 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 20,517 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $21,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 4,986.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company's stock worth $225,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,719,036 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in 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 worth $1,948,943,000 after acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in AT&T by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 33,963,826 shares of the technology company's stock worth $753,318,000 after acquiring an additional 5,614,168 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company's stock worth $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer started coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.74.

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AT&T Stock Down 4.6 %

T opened at $26.02 on Wednesday. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $27.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $24.46 and a 200-day moving average of $22.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $186.74 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.

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