Employees Retirement System of Texas Grows Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,304,302 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 93,802 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in AT&T were worth $29,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,637,914,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220,442 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AT&T by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after buying an additional 2,640,644 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in the fourth 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. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $1,858,418,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:T traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $26.53. The stock had a trading volume of 29,246,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,874,690. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The firm's 50 day moving average is $26.50 and its 200-day moving average is $23.90. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $29.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its 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%. Research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Monday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $28.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.24.

AT&T Company 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.