Jennison Associates LLC Lowers Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,697,672 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 78,803 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $81,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 227.6% during the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 131,813 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 91,578 shares during the period. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 356.5% in the second quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,429 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares during the period. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its holdings in AT&T by 169.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC increased its position in AT&T by 107.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares during the period. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T opened at $22.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $21.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.86. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $23.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.81 billion, a PE ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.86%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Scotiabank lowered AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.40.

AT&T 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.