J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Sells 79,336 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 293,388 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 79,336 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $5,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,999,912,000 after buying an additional 2,588,539 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in AT&T by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,549,375,000 after buying an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,118,288,000. LSV Asset Management increased its position in AT&T by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 30,092,610 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $575,070,000 after buying an additional 315,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its position in AT&T by 22.0% in the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,528,000 after buying an additional 4,511,725 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $21.64 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.12 and a twelve month high of $21.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $19.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.17. The company has a market capitalization of $155.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The firm had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.13%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on T shares. TD Cowen boosted their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Daiwa America raised AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lifted their price target on AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.31.

AT&T Profile

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.