State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 11,596,300 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

State of Michigan Retirement System reduced its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 57.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,465,313 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,596,300 shares during the period. AT&T makes up about 1.0% of State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. State of Michigan Retirement System owned 0.12% of AT&T worth $192,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,948,943,000 after buying an additional 5,649,277 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in AT&T by 41.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its stake 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 valued at $346,934,000 after buying an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in AT&T by 112.9% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,167,000 after buying an additional 1,546,679 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Up 1.0 %

T stock opened at $27.69 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $27.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $198.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on T shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Argus raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.45.

AT&T Company 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.