WBI Investments LLC Sells 69,714 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

WBI Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 33.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,984 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 69,714 shares during the period. AT&T accounts for 0.8% of WBI Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. WBI Investments LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AT&T by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,637,914,000 after acquiring an additional 6,220,442 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640,644 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in AT&T by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,667,000 after purchasing an additional 26,280,866 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in AT&T by 7.1% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,858,418,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on T. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Williams Trading set a $30.00 price objective on AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.71.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE T opened at $27.72 on Monday. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.11 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The company has a market cap of $199.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.94.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.10%.

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.