III Capital Management Sells 196,959 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

III Capital Management lessened its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 76.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,995 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 196,959 shares during the period. III Capital Management’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP bought a new position in AT&T in the second quarter valued at approximately $23,888,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 18.3% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Talbot Financial LLC acquired a new position in AT&T during the third quarter worth about $7,438,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in AT&T by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,641,856 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $50,486,000 after purchasing an additional 288,093 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $23.77. The company had a trading volume of 18,813,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,327,691. The stock has a market cap of $170.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.59. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.67%. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.53.

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.