AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s 8th Largest Position

Poplar Forest Capital LLC lifted its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,621,350 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,490 shares during the period. AT&T makes up 4.0% of Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $27,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 160,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,697,000 after purchasing an additional 8,433 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,717 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 1,014,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,021,000 after buying an additional 14,301 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $120,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $1,007,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

AT&T Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE T traded up $0.31 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.81. The stock had a trading volume of 74,184,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,342,547. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $120.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.58, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.57. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $18.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $16.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.54.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 11.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.60%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.63%.

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.