Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 725,780 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 9.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,673,693 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 725,780 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.12% of AT&T worth $197,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Tradition Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $270,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at $382,000. Paloma Partners Management Co grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 141.8% during the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 31,038 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $683,000 after purchasing an additional 105,338 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1,855.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 92,810 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,042,000 after purchasing an additional 88,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concentric Capital Strategies LP purchased a new position in AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth $1,978,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.21.

AT&T Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:T opened at $28.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12, a PEG 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 Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $28.61. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.64.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

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.