Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV Decreases Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV reduced its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 30.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,700 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,089 shares during the quarter. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV’s holdings in AT&T were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in T. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. purchased a new stake in AT&T in the 4th quarter valued at about $258,000. Vantage Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 38,207 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $641,000 after purchasing an additional 7,762 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its stake in AT&T by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 31,130 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in AT&T by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 142,331 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,388,000 after purchasing an additional 41,244 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 1,123,247 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,848,000 after buying an additional 382,383 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of T stock opened at $19.90 on Tuesday. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.12 and a fifty-two week high of $19.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.69 billion, a PE ratio of 10.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.91.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.57. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on T shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Daiwa America raised AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.06.

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.