Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,251,812 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 272,780 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.06% of AT&T worth $71,345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Newport Trust Company LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 199,998,040 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,003,971,000 after buying an additional 673,043 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of AT&T by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 75,158,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,128,878,000 after buying an additional 1,828,237 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 130.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,515,546 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $863,884,000 after buying an additional 32,558,342 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 185.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,791,397 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $747,867,000 after buying an additional 327,425 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of AT&T stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $16.85. 23,867,714 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 39,111,625. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.43 and a 52-week high of $18.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.62. The company has a market capitalization of $120.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on T shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. TheStreet raised shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.81.

About AT&T

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, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.