Eastern Bank Sells 676,617 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Eastern Bank cut its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 84.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,325 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 676,617 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in T. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 5,378.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,780 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 3,711 shares during the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 32.9% in the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 19,491 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its holdings in AT&T by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 12,039 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in AT&T by 217.9% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 71,245 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 48,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in AT&T by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 113,685 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,173,000 after buying an additional 27,970 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AT&T presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.76.

AT&T Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:T opened at $21.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $154.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.53, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.26. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.15%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

About AT&T

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.