Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,662,077 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 38,558 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in AT&T were worth $36,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake 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 holdings in AT&T by 43.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in AT&T by 7.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $477,528,000 after buying an additional 4,511,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,570,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Daiwa America upgraded AT&T to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on AT&T in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $23.40.

AT&T Trading Up 0.3 %

T traded up $0.07 on Tuesday, hitting $22.18. The company had a trading volume of 32,709,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,662,418. The company's fifty day moving average price is $21.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.19. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $14.91 and a 1 year high of $22.58. 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 firm has a market cap of $159.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T's payout ratio 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.