Courier Capital LLC Lowers Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Courier Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,512 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 7,856 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in AT&T by 1,379.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after purchasing an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 43.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $414,563,000 after acquiring an additional 6,602,586 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 22.0% in the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,528,000 after acquiring an additional 4,511,725 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the second quarter worth about $78,570,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AT&T Stock Up 4.6 %

T stock opened at $22.49 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $161.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.74 and a 12 month high of $22.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $21.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.06.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on T shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AT&T to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.93.

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.