AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Sovereign Financial Group Inc.

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 34,173 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,677 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 199,998,040 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,003,971,000 after buying an additional 673,043 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in AT&T by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 75,158,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,128,878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828,237 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 185.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,301,000 after purchasing an additional 34,189,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in AT&T by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,589,421 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $848,888,000 after purchasing an additional 798,024 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on T shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup raised their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.81.

AT&T Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of T stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.09. 28,082,469 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,812,934. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $18.16. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $122.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.19, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.50%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

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.