AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Poplar Forest Capital LLC

Poplar Forest Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 25.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,198,210 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 416,445 shares during the quarter. AT&T accounts for 5.0% of Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Poplar Forest Capital LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $27,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,948,943,000 after buying an additional 5,649,277 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 1,149,688 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position 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 buying an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $399,467,000 after acquiring an additional 325,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $27.45 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $27.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.01 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.91 and its 200-day moving average is $22.54.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued 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 net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

About AT&T

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.