Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 165,232 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 39.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 254,288 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 165,232 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in AT&T were worth $5,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Socha Financial Group LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 2.5% in the third quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC now owns 18,847 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank lifted its position in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 21,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Hayek Kallen Investment Management raised its holdings in AT&T by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hayek Kallen Investment Management now owns 60,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.7% during the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 73,562 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Finally, Spinnaker Trust lifted its holdings in AT&T by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 124,593 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,741,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock traded up $0.30 on Friday, hitting $22.34. 29,901,560 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 34,672,116. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.46 and a 52 week high of $22.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.52. The firm has a market cap of $160.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective 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. TD Cowen raised their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.40.

AT&T Company Profile

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.