Finward Bancorp Takes Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Finward Bancorp purchased a new position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,449 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $420,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of T. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $225,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,719,036 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in AT&T by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 47,651,898 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,085,034,000 after purchasing an additional 7,347,354 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $14,637,914,000 after acquiring an additional 6,220,442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus upgraded AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target 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. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.24.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $27.12. 24,758,386 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,700,813. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $26.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.14. 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 12 month low of $16.17 and a 12 month high of $29.03. The firm has a market cap of $194.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's payout ratio is currently 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.