Alliancebernstein L.P. Acquires 5,329,647 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 40.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,632,607 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,329,647 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.26% of AT&T worth $424,264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 26,161 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its holdings in AT&T by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 59,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 12,383 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 444 shares during the period. Finally, Northeast Investment Management boosted its position in AT&T by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 51,198 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:T opened at $28.33 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $28.56. The company has a market cap of $203.32 billion, a PE ratio of 19.01, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $25.82 and a 200-day moving average of $23.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on T shares. Argus upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.00.

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.