Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 129,123 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,133 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in T. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $14,700,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after buying an additional 21,927 shares in the last quarter. Fortress Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $691,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 37,961 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $864,000 after acquiring an additional 15,680 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on T shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.21.

AT&T Price Performance

T stock opened at $28.49 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $25.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.64. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $28.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $204.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

AT&T 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.