Columbus Macro LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Columbus Macro LLC cut its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 62,216 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,908 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 130,844 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,196,000 after buying an additional 29,757 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 32,833 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 4,750 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T in the 1st quarter valued at about $160,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its position in shares of AT&T by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 55,108 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in AT&T by 12.3% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 20,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,186 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank downgraded shares of AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on AT&T in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.69.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.85. The stock had a trading volume of 27,277,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,539,133. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.97. AT&T Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.74 and a twelve month high of $22.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.57. The business had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 10.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.08%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio 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.