Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Trims Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lowered its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 46,416,926 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 484,039 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in AT&T were worth $886,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $1,118,288,000. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $152,109,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,086,854 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,477,000 after acquiring an additional 4,970,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,725 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock opened at $21.64 on Monday. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.12 and a fifty-two week high of $21.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $155.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.57. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The firm’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.13%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Scotiabank lowered AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.31.

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.