Van ECK Associates Corp Has $9.21 Million Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 404,343 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 7,385 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in AT&T were worth $9,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of T opened at $25.88 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.23 and a 200 day moving average of $22.06. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $25.93. The firm has a market cap of $185.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. 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 earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on T shares. Oppenheimer started coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

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.