Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 21,019 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Wright Investors Service Inc. cut its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 117,562 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 21,019 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.2% during the first quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 47,356 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,119,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. SMH Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. SMH Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 31,771 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $585,000 after buying an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. now owns 17,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 35.3% during the fourth 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, JB Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 26,620 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $447,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $16.14. 9,983,443 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,201,016. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $17.02 and its 200-day moving average is $16.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $115.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.57. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.43 and a 52 week high of $19.83.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 11.76%. AT&T’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 56.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on T. StockNews.com lowered AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on AT&T from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Tigress Financial upped their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.68.

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.