DAVENPORT & Co LLC Decreases Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lessened its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 326,058 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 24,223 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $7,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 1.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,341,693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149,688 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 7.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in AT&T by 15.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Up 2.2 %

T opened at $24.26 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (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, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on T shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus 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 note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.11.

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.