Cidel Asset Management Inc. Has $2.82 Million Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Cidel Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,678 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,565 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in AT&T by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 396,958 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,928,000 after purchasing an additional 26,706 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on T shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six 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, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of T stock opened at $24.56 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $176.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.01 and its 200-day moving average is $21.77.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.