Freestate Advisors LLC Sells 1,942 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Freestate Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,601 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,942 shares during the period. AT&T comprises approximately 0.4% of Freestate Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Freestate Advisors LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Chesapeake Wealth Management grew its position in AT&T by 1.9% in the third quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 24,304 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $535,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC grew its position in AT&T by 2.5% in the third quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC now owns 18,847 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in AT&T by 1.4% in the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,468 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $759,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank grew its position in AT&T by 2.3% in the third quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 21,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hayek Kallen Investment Management grew its position in AT&T by 0.8% in the third quarter. Hayek Kallen Investment Management now owns 60,271 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.83.

AT&T Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of AT&T stock opened at $21.90 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.14 billion, a PE ratio of 17.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $24.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.07%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 90.24%.

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.