Griffin Asset Management Inc. Sells 692 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 116,818 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 692 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,660,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in AT&T by 18.3% during 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 in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,438,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on T shares. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Argus upgraded AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.83.

AT&T Stock Up 6.2 %

Shares of T opened at $24.12 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $22.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.48. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $24.37. The company has a market capitalization of $173.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. On average, analysts anticipate 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 Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 90.24%.

About AT&T

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.