Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $1.55 Million Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,971 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,627 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,554,000. Provence Wealth Management Group boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group now owns 16,217 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 5,807 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 250.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 67,303 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 48,091 shares in the last quarter. Retireful LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,163,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in AT&T by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 46,265 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $776,000 after buying an additional 5,161 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Trading Down 0.8 %

T opened at $18.82 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $134.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.20. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.43 and a fifty-two week high of $19.32.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 59.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.73.

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.