Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Lowers Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 186,555 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 25,737 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in AT&T were worth $4,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Northeast Investment Management lifted its stake in AT&T by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Northeast Investment Management now owns 51,198 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 24,304 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. boosted its holdings in AT&T by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. now owns 16,905 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Socha Financial Group LLC grew its position in AT&T by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC now owns 18,847 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,468 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. New Street Research raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

T stock opened at $25.88 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.08. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $25.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

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 $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

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.