AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Martingale Asset Management L P

Martingale Asset Management L P reduced its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,875,259 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 72,200 shares during the period. AT&T accounts for 1.0% of Martingale Asset Management L P’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in AT&T were worth $42,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,637,914,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220,442 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after buying an additional 2,640,644 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,649,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $1,858,418,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group boosted 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 upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.24.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T opened at $26.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $189.04 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $29.03. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.85.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 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%. As a group, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

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.