CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 17,775 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

CENTRAL TRUST Co decreased its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 182,008 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 17,775 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in AT&T were worth $4,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

AT&T Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE T opened at $23.74 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.64. The stock has a market cap of $170.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer began coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.11.

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.