Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Raises Holdings in AT&T Inc. $T

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 56.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,770 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,510 shares during the quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 651,044,650 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $18,411,543,000 after purchasing an additional 8,185,006 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,266,758,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 113,957,259 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,222,711,000 after buying an additional 17,177,874 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 55,216,190 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,561,514,000 after buying an additional 1,783,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 53,339,376 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,508,411,000 after buying an additional 1,307,009 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE:T opened at $24.55 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.65. The stock has a market cap of $175.54 billion, a PE ratio of 7.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.42. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.38 and a 52 week high of $29.79.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. The business had revenue of $30.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.85 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 17.87%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Scotiabank set a $30.25 target price on AT&T and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.67.

AT&T 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.