Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 60,000 AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 60,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,007,000. AT&T makes up 3.6% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 16,250.0% in the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. Lipe & Dalton acquired a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its position in AT&T by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in AT&T by 3,202.4% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 2,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.50.

AT&T Stock Up 1.2 %

T traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $16.51. The company had a trading volume of 47,772,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,895,176. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.43 and a 52 week high of $18.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $118.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’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 data 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 analyst estimates of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.63%.

AT&T Company 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.