Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. Reduces Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. lowered its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,120 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,876 shares during the period. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after acquiring an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,986,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,341,693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149,688 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after purchasing an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in AT&T by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,543,563 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $399,467,000 after purchasing an additional 325,073 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service boosted its holdings in AT&T by 15.8% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

AT&T Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE T opened at $25.88 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $25.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $23.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.08. The firm has a market cap of $185.66 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released 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 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

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.