Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 27,466 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 252,098 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 27,466 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in AT&T were worth $4,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Newport Trust Company LLC raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 199,998,040 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,003,971,000 after buying an additional 673,043 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 75,158,354 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,128,878,000 after buying an additional 1,828,237 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,118,288,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 130.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after purchasing an additional 32,558,342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 185.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,301,000 after purchasing an additional 34,189,954 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. TheStreet upgraded AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T traded down $0.09 during trading on Thursday, reaching $17.41. 2,520,495 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 37,075,727. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.43 and a 12 month high of $18.16. The firm has a market cap of $124.83 billion, a PE ratio of 9.41, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.38%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

AT&T Profile

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.