SFE Investment Counsel Decreases Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

SFE Investment Counsel lessened its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,854 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of T. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in AT&T by 356.5% in the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 1,429 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 166.7% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 107.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 807 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on T shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.06.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $20.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $150.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.00. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.12 and a 1-year high of $21.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. The firm had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.29%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

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.