Empire Life Investments Inc. Sells 363,702 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Empire Life Investments Inc. lessened its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 40.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 533,867 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 363,702 shares during the period. Empire Life Investments Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $12,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of T. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company's stock worth $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of AT&T by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company's stock worth $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 112.9% in the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company's stock worth $64,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546,679 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $378,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

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AT&T Stock Up 0.8 %

T traded up $0.20 on Tuesday, reaching $26.07. 52,435,051 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,233,598. The company has a market cap of $187.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $23.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.12. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $26.18.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS 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, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is 74.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer began coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Argus upgraded shares of AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $26.33.

AT&T 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.