Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 296,371 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 9,883 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $8,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 48,579 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 10,188 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 404,343 shares of the technology company's stock worth $9,207,000 after buying an additional 7,385 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $225,000. First Merchants Corp raised its stake in AT&T by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 16,407 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 2,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in AT&T by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 99,506 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,266,000 after acquiring an additional 15,770 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Securities raised their price target on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $31.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $30.00 price objective on AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.76.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T traded up $0.00 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $27.65. The company had a trading volume of 15,183,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,598,757. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.86 and a 12-month high of $29.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.71. The company has a market cap of $198.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.94, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). AT&T had a return on equity of 13.63% and a net margin of 9.64%. The company had revenue of $30.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's payout ratio is 68.10%.

AT&T Company 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.