Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 5,556 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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. owned about 0.12% of AT&T worth $189,275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE increased its position in shares of AT&T by 169.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of T opened at $25.88 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $25.93. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.08.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

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