AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Empire Life Investments Inc.

Empire Life Investments Inc. trimmed its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 897,569 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,406 shares during the period. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $19,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in AT&T by 1,379.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 43.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 22.0% in the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,528,000 after buying an additional 4,511,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in AT&T during the second quarter valued at approximately $78,570,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

AT&T Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $22.12 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.46 and a 12-month high of $22.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.59. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $21.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.33.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.02%. 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.