Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 178,429 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,534,346 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 178,429 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $42,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in T. Newport Trust Company LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 0.3% during the third quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 199,998,040 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,003,971,000 after acquiring an additional 673,043 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in AT&T by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 75,158,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,128,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828,237 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,118,288,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 130.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $863,884,000 after buying an additional 32,558,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 185.6% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $17.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $125.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.05 and a 200-day moving average of $16.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $13.43 and a one year high of $18.16.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.34%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on T shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.81.

AT&T Profile

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.