Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Takes Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 118,689 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,703,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank increased its position in AT&T by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company's stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp increased its position in AT&T by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its position in AT&T by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on T. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.74.

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AT&T Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE:T opened at $26.02 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $24.46 and its 200-day moving average is $22.94. 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 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $27.97. The firm has a market cap of $186.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

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

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

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.

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