Kentucky Retirement Systems Reduces Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 492,731 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,787 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in AT&T were worth $11,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during 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 last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in AT&T by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,341,693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149,688 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $399,467,000 after buying an additional 325,073 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in AT&T by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $26.18 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $26.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.59. 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 (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.