Legal & General Group Plc Sells 11,336,606 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 47,906,723 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 11,336,606 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.67% of AT&T worth $1,090,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after buying an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in AT&T by 4,986.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company's stock worth $225,741,000 after buying an additional 9,719,036 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in AT&T by 18.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 47,651,898 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,085,034,000 after acquiring an additional 7,347,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $14,637,914,000 after acquiring an additional 6,220,442 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of T traded up $0.38 on Thursday, hitting $26.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 31,186,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,881,868. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $26.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.90. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $29.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, equities research analysts expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group upped their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $28.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.24.

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.