Perpetual Ltd Sells 76,700 Shares of AT&T Inc. $T

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd reduced its shareholding in AT&T Inc. by 60.1%, owning 51,000 shares after selling 76,700 during the second quarter, with holdings valued at approximately $1.48 million.
• Vanguard Group increased its AT&T shares by 1.3%, now owning over 651 million shares valued at about $18.41 billion, while other investors like GQG Partners and UBS also grew their stakes.
• Analysts have mixed views on AT&T, with ratings ranging from "strong buy" to "hold" and a consensus price target of $30.74, following recent earnings that beat expectations with a 3.4% year-over-year revenue increase.

Perpetual Ltd trimmed its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 60.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,000 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 76,700 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in AT&T were worth $1,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the second quarter valued at $5,266,758,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the first quarter valued at about $1,072,128,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 17.7% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 113,957,259 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,222,711,000 after acquiring an additional 17,177,874 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its holdings in AT&T by 30,527.5% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 11,959,440 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $338,213,000 after acquiring an additional 11,920,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in AT&T by 350.4% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,363,940 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $321,372,000 after acquiring an additional 8,841,126 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

T traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $28.75. The stock had a trading volume of 12,662,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,316,621. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.84. The firm has a market cap of $205.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.44. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $21.05 and a one year high of $29.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 10.29%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on T. Scotiabank raised their target price on AT&T from $29.50 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut AT&T from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.74.

About AT&T

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.