AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Essex LLC

Essex LLC lessened its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,394 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,424 shares during the quarter. Essex LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in T. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 1.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,341,693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149,688 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $399,467,000 after buying an additional 325,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Stock Performance

T opened at $24.56 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.81. The firm has a market cap of $176.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.98.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on T. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.21.

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.