AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s 4th Largest Position

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 30,527.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,959,440 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,920,392 shares during the period. AT&T accounts for about 5.0% of Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in AT&T were worth $338,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in T. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 53,432,827 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,216,665,000 after purchasing an additional 12,881,578 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,779,438,000 after buying an additional 10,945,679 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 651,044,650 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $18,411,543,000 after acquiring an additional 8,185,006 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $160,747,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP raised its stake in AT&T by 402.3% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 6,478,108 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $147,507,000 after acquiring an additional 5,188,460 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. HSBC cut shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $30.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.66.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T opened at $27.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.42. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $29.19. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.93.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. AT&T had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The business had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 63.07%.

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.