Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Cuts Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP cut its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,509 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,134 shares during the quarter. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings in AT&T were worth $546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 2,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. JB Capital LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 26,620 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Schubert & Co boosted its holdings in AT&T by 2.0% in the third quarter. Schubert & Co now owns 32,333 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 6.3% in the third quarter. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC now owns 11,226 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MBM Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 15,637 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on T. StockNews.com lowered shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. TheStreet raised shares of AT&T from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer raised shares of AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.50.

AT&T Trading Up 1.9 %

AT&T stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.81. The company had a trading volume of 74,184,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,342,547. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.43 and a 1-year high of $18.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.54. The stock has a market cap of $120.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.44 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 11.76%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.60%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.63%.

About AT&T

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.