Leuthold Group LLC Sells 9,364 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Leuthold Group LLC cut its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 257,477 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,364 shares during the period. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $5,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its position 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 valued at $468,217,000 after buying an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 41.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after buying an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp raised its position in AT&T by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after buying an additional 21,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after acquiring an additional 30,281 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on T. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley raised AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.33.

AT&T Trading Up 1.9 %

T stock opened at $26.64 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $26.72. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $23.50 and its 200 day moving average is $22.28. The company has a market capitalization of $191.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. On average, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

AT&T 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.