Highland Capital Management LLC Cuts Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Highland Capital Management LLC cut its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 258,528 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,580 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $5,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its stake in AT&T by 169.2% in the third quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the third quarter worth about $35,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.11.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $24.23 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $173.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.94 and a 1 year high of $24.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.55.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

AT&T Company Profile

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.