Capital Investment Counsel Inc Cuts Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc cut its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,243 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,151 shares during the period. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in AT&T were worth $279,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,341,693,000 after buying an additional 1,149,688 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $399,467,000 after acquiring an additional 325,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in AT&T by 15.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Down 0.2 %

T opened at $26.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $187.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $26.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $23.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.23.

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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on T shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

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.