Sapient Capital LLC Sells 1,778 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sapient Capital LLC cut its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,626 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,778 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sora Investors LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter worth $11,265,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 17,258,265 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $259,219,000 after acquiring an additional 383,015 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 3.1% in the third quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 38,929 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $585,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. Retireful LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $1,163,000. Finally, Terril Brothers Inc. boosted its holdings in AT&T by 51.6% in the third quarter. Terril Brothers Inc. now owns 594,974 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,937,000 after acquiring an additional 202,637 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.90. 31,792,882 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 39,373,371. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.85 billion, a PE ratio of 9.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.43 and a 12-month high of $18.16. The business’s 50-day moving average is $16.97 and its 200-day moving average is $16.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on T. Scotiabank boosted their target price on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Citigroup boosted their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.81.

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.