Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC Reduces Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC decreased its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,316 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,591 shares during the quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in AT&T by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 276,242 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,290,000 after purchasing an additional 22,030 shares during the period. Providence First Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $996,000. Sims Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth approximately $148,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,273,000. Finally, Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 151,774 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,456,000 after acquiring an additional 8,543 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $27.45 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $27.49. The company has a market cap of $197.01 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

AT&T Company 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.