Jennison Associates LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,697,672 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 78,803 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.05% of AT&T worth $81,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in AT&T by 1,379.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 43.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in AT&T by 22.0% in the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company's stock worth $477,528,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,570,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Scotiabank downgraded AT&T from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of AT&T to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.40.

AT&T Price Performance

AT&T stock opened at $22.80 on Thursday. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $23.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $163.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.86.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. Equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.24%.

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.