Hennessy Advisors Inc. Trims Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 315,160 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $6,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Pacific Financial raised its stake in AT&T by 166.7% in the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its position in AT&T by 176.6% during the second quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 1,867 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP purchased a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $19.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.04 and a fifty-two week high of $19.99. The firm has a market cap of $140.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.77.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.57. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The business had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.68%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.06.

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