AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. trimmed its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 75,358 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 18,260 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 185.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 130.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after purchasing an additional 32,558,342 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in AT&T by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 34,558,594 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $519,070,000 after purchasing an additional 9,518,478 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in AT&T by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 26,227,124 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $393,931,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,739,648 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $221,242,000 after purchasing an additional 4,432,136 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Stock Up 0.2 %

AT&T stock opened at $16.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $121.03 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.62. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.43 and a twelve month high of $18.16.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.56%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on T shares. Barclays upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.81.

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.