Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Boosts Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 110.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,155,046 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,228,888 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.09% of AT&T worth $117,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Joseph Group Capital Management increased its stake in AT&T by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 178,985 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,420,000 after acquiring an additional 18,888 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 5.7% during the second quarter. Wealth Advisors of Tampa Bay LLC now owns 190,890 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,648,000 after purchasing an additional 10,240 shares in the last quarter. Trust Investment Advisors lifted its position in AT&T by 51.4% during the second quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 48,856 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 16,585 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 30.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 317,047 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,059,000 after purchasing an additional 74,764 shares during the period. Finally, Cowa LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 70.9% during the second quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 45,760 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $874,000 after buying an additional 18,977 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on T shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Scotiabank lowered shares of AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Daiwa America raised shares of AT&T to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.31.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE T opened at $21.52 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.12 and a fifty-two week high of $22.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.88 and a 200-day moving average of $18.34. The stock has a market cap of $154.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

AT&T Profile

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.