New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $200.01 Million Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,783,701 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 106,000 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.12% of AT&T worth $200,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the third 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. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 15.8% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company's stock worth $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 112.9% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,167,000 after buying an additional 1,546,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 7.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $378,807,000 after buying an additional 1,206,330 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Argus raised AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE T traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $26.64. 58,384,223 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,439,449. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $26.72. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $23.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.23.

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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is 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.