Sentry Investment Management LLC Purchases 20,196 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sentry Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 216.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,512 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,196 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $672,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in shares of AT&T by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after buying an additional 1,546,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,330 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $26.74 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $191.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $27.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

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.