AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Stake Cut by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 176,482 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 16,191 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in AT&T by 46.0% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 38,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $572,000 after purchasing an additional 11,989 shares during the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 17,791 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group raised its stake in AT&T by 39.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 26,920 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 7,655 shares in the last quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management acquired a new position in AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth $238,000. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.6% in the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 819,459 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,308,000 after purchasing an additional 28,112 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on T shares. TheStreet raised shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup upped their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Barclays raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.81.

AT&T Trading Up 0.2 %

AT&T stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.85. The stock had a trading volume of 24,023,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,324,028. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.43 and a twelve month 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 firm has a market cap of $120.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.62 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.63% and a net margin of 11.13%. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

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

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.