Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 136,640 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,484 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,667,000 after acquiring an additional 26,280,866 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 4,986.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $225,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,719,036 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,637,914,000 after buying an additional 6,220,442 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in AT&T by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,948,943,000 after acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 33,963,826 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $753,318,000 after purchasing an additional 5,614,168 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Trading Up 1.3 %

T stock opened at $27.30 on Wednesday. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $27.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $25.35 and its 200 day moving average is $23.40. The company has a market capitalization of $195.96 billion, a PE ratio of 18.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 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, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.79.

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.