Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in AT&T Inc. $T

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,105,691 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,385 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of AT&T worth $228,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Flaharty Asset Management LLC raised its position in AT&T by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Flaharty Asset Management LLC now owns 10,874 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. Uptick Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 9.5% in the third quarter. Uptick Partners LLC now owns 9,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in AT&T by 1.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 187,236 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,288,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 2.1% in the third quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 34,893 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $985,000 after acquiring an additional 710 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in AT&T by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,149,243 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,455,000 after acquiring an additional 125,568 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Arete Research set a $20.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of AT&T from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Barclays dropped their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Williams Trading set a $32.00 price objective on AT&T in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.83.

AT&T Stock Up 4.3%

AT&T stock opened at $26.21 on Monday. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.95 and a 1-year high of $29.79. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $24.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.59, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.39.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 17.47%.The company had revenue of $33.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. AT&T has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.350 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 12th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 12th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 36.39%.

Trending Headlines about AT&T

Here are the key news stories impacting AT&T this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results topped expectations — AT&T reported EPS of $0.52 and revenue of $33.47B, beating estimates and showing broadband and subscriber strength that traders rewarded. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management unveiled larger capital returns — company announced a new buyback plan and reiterated durable cash-return targets (including multi‑year FCF ambitions), which supports the stock’s rerating. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Fiber and convergence roadmap upgraded — AT&T signaled plans to expand fiber to ~40M locations and push convergence with wireless, supporting long-term growth and 5G/fiber synergy expectations. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic deals seen as incremental upside — analysts and commentary highlight the Lumen transaction as an underappreciated catalyst that could accelerate fiber and wireless revenue crossover. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is improving but mixed — several outlets note upgrades or “moderate buy” trends, while consensus still includes a number of hold ratings; street estimates are tracking higher but not uniformly. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts flag a mixed quarter and one‑time factors — at least one shop (TD Cowen coverage) kept a hold rating, pointing to tax-driven cash flows and execution risks as reasons to temper enthusiasm. Article Title

About AT&T

AT&T Inc is a global telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and digital entertainment services. Its core activities include consumer and business wireless services, broadband and fiber internet, and network infrastructure. The company operates branded wireless services through AT&T Mobility and deploys fixed-line and fiber networks to deliver high-speed internet and related home services.

AT&T’s product and service portfolio spans mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and device sales, home internet (including fiber-to-the-home where available), and managed connectivity solutions for enterprise customers.