Legal & General Group Plc Has $1.09 Billion Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 47,906,723 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,336,606 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,090,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $1,858,418,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after acquiring an additional 26,280,866 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 4,986.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,913,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $225,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,719,036 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 47,651,898 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,085,034,000 after acquiring an additional 7,347,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,637,914,000 after purchasing an additional 6,220,442 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Down 6.8 %

AT&T stock opened at $26.65 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $191.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $26.26 and its 200 day moving average is $23.76. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.94 and a 12-month high of $29.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on AT&T from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. DZ Bank upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.21.

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.