Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Sells 18,870 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC decreased its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 276,417 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 18,870 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $6,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of T. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,888,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in AT&T by 41.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 18.3% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares during the period. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T in the third quarter worth approximately $7,438,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on T. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.76.

AT&T Stock Performance

AT&T stock opened at $22.20 on Thursday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.94 and a twelve month high of $24.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $159.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.83 and its 200 day moving average is $21.18.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.00%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

About AT&T

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.