AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. decreased its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,397,656 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 92,747 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.24% of AT&T worth $291,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 16,250.0% in the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the technology company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,625 shares during the period. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Lipe & Dalton acquired a new stake in AT&T during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Ramirez Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AT&T during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer raised AT&T from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of AT&T from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.68.

AT&T Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:T traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $16.25. 40,248,051 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,485,117. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.43 and a 12-month high of $19.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.34, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.01). AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The firm had revenue of $32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. AT&T's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T's payout ratio is currently 56.63%.

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.