GenWealth Group Inc. Trims Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

GenWealth Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 45.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,898 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,656 shares during the period. GenWealth Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new stake in AT&T during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,888,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:T opened at $22.30 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $22.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.31. The company has a market cap of $159.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $24.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. Analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on T shares. Citigroup upped their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.83.

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.