Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,312,486 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 5,556 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $189,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 41.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its holdings in AT&T by 15.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in AT&T by 112.9% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after buying an additional 1,546,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 7.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,807,000 after buying an additional 1,206,330 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $25.88 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $23.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.08. The firm has a market cap of $185.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $25.93.

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 return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

About AT&T

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.