Equity Investment Corp Trims Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Equity Investment Corp lowered its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,650,595 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 277,888 shares during the quarter. AT&T comprises approximately 4.6% of Equity Investment Corp’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Equity Investment Corp owned 0.12% of AT&T worth $196,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter worth $25,000. Marshall Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE T opened at $26.60 on Thursday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $27.16. The firm has a market cap of $190.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Oppenheimer began coverage on AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.33.

AT&T Profile

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.