Childress Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Childress Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,950 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,571 shares during the quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $409,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in AT&T by 41.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in AT&T by 18.3% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after acquiring an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth $7,438,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.11.

AT&T Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of T opened at $24.26 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $174.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $22.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.66. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $24.98.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.58%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 74.50%.

AT&T Company Profile

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.