Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Sells 5,134 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP lessened its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,509 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,134 shares during the quarter. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings in AT&T were worth $546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 185.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of AT&T by 130.5% in 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 during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 34,558,594 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $519,070,000 after purchasing an additional 9,518,478 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 30.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 26,227,124 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $393,931,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 43.0% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 14,739,648 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $221,242,000 after purchasing an additional 4,432,136 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. TheStreet upgraded shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.50.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:T traded up $0.31 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.81. 74,184,828 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,342,547. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.43 and a 1-year high of $18.16. The company has a market capitalization of $120.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50 day moving average is $16.98 and its 200-day moving average is $16.54.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.01). AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The firm had revenue of $32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.60%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.63%.

About AT&T

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.