AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,864,647 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 48,056 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $41,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the second quarter worth $23,888,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake 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 last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after buying an additional 30,281 shares during the period. Talbot Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,438,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,641,856 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,486,000 after acquiring an additional 288,093 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Redburn Atlantic raised AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price objective on AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

AT&T Price Performance

NYSE T opened at $23.14 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $22.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.04. The stock has a market cap of $166.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $23.32.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

About AT&T

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.