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

Foster Group Inc. grew its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 18.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,790 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,751 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of T. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on T shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Williams Trading set a $30.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.71.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T opened at $27.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.33 and its 200 day moving average is $25.41. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.42 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.10%.

AT&T Company 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.