AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Nicola Wealth Management LTD.

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. trimmed its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,041,200 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 327,500 shares during the period. AT&T accounts for about 2.5% of Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $23,708,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in AT&T by 0.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp grew its stake in AT&T by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 21,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on T. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.45.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $27.69 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $27.86. The stock has a market cap of $198.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $24.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. 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.