Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,445,369 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 40,207 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in AT&T were worth $78,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $99,000. Helium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $215,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $160,000. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 105,691 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after buying an additional 36,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 16,259 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 3,831 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on T. TD Securities raised their price target on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Williams Trading set a $30.00 price target on AT&T in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.71.

AT&T Stock Down 0.9%

T opened at $27.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.05. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.11 and a 12 month high of $29.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $30.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.10%.

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.