Prudential PLC Lowers Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Prudential PLC trimmed its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 17.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 333,572 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 70,169 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $7,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 37.3% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after acquiring an additional 26,280,866 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $225,741,000 after acquiring an additional 9,719,036 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,637,914,000 after acquiring an additional 6,220,442 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,948,943,000 after purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on T shares. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.21.

AT&T Stock Down 6.8 %

Shares of NYSE T opened at $26.65 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $29.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.73. The company has a market cap of $191.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

AT&T Company 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.