Sterling Investment Management LLC Sells 674 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Sterling Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,729 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 674 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 17,888 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 62.3% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 24,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 9,450 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in AT&T by 23.1% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,099,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,983,000 after purchasing an additional 206,434 shares during the period. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 5.5% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 476,601 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,262,000 after purchasing an additional 25,028 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in AT&T by 1,191.3% in the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 12,706 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 11,722 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Moffett Nathanson upgraded AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Argus cut shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock traded up $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $15.10. 6,813,443 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,836,703. The company has a 50 day moving average of $14.46 and a 200 day moving average of $16.33. The stock has a market cap of $107.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, 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 $20.50.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The technology company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $29.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.07 billion. AT&T had a negative net margin of 7.22% and a positive return on equity of 15.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 7th. AT&T’s payout ratio is -90.98%.

AT&T Company Profile

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, and carrying cases and hands-free devices through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.