Hall Laurie J Trustee Cuts Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Hall Laurie J Trustee reduced its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,025 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,325 shares during the period. Hall Laurie J Trustee’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,888,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after buying an additional 30,281 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE T opened at $22.30 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.83.

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.