ERn Financial LLC Reduces Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

ERn Financial LLC lessened its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,519 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,676 shares during the quarter. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 130,844 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,196,000 after purchasing an additional 29,757 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank grew its stake in AT&T by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 135,828 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,391,000 after acquiring an additional 5,422 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.5% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 29,340 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 2,036 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 18.2% during the first quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 20,912 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 3,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T in the first quarter valued at approximately $240,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of several research reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Scotiabank downgraded AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AT&T to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.69.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T stock opened at $21.70 on Thursday. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.28 and a fifty-two week high of $22.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67, a PEG ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.91.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.57. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. AT&T’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.12%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.68%.

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.