Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Decreases Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,130 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 10,210 shares during the period. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in AT&T by 1,379.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after buying an additional 13,201,774 shares in the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $152,109,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,549,375,000 after purchasing an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 120.8% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,086,854 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $152,477,000 after purchasing an additional 4,970,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,725 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

T opened at $21.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.88 and a 200 day moving average of $18.34. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.12 and a fifty-two week high of $22.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The business had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.15%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank downgraded shares of AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.31.

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.