MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC Reduces Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC lessened its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 9.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,781 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,471 shares during the period. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of T. Norges Bank bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,118,288,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 185.6% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,613,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,301,000 after buying an additional 34,189,954 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $316,472,000. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $152,109,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in AT&T by 120.8% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,086,854 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,477,000 after purchasing an additional 4,970,954 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

T has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. BNP Paribas raised shares of AT&T from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Barclays raised shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

AT&T Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of AT&T stock traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $19.11. The stock had a trading volume of 52,825,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,874,564. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $17.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.18. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.43 and a 12-month high of $19.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $137.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.60.

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

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.81%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.68%.

About AT&T

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.