Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 385,900 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 17,800 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in AT&T were worth $8,787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.21.

AT&T Stock Up 1.2 %

AT&T stock opened at $25.16 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $23.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.90. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $25.18. The company has a market cap of $180.50 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued 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 net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business 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 was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

About AT&T

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.