Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 69,301 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 33.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,439 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 69,301 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in T. Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 16,250.0% during the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares during the last quarter. Lipe & Dalton bought a new stake in AT&T in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 3,202.4% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer upgraded AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Citigroup raised their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AT&T currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Performance

T traded up $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 28,082,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,812,934. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $13.43 and a one year high of $18.16. The firm has a market cap of $122.50 billion, a PE ratio of 9.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 14.63%. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.50%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

AT&T Company 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.