First Trust Advisors LP Lowers Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,258,607 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 409,553 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.09% of AT&T worth $142,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its position in AT&T by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 1,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus raised shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.24.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $27.12 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.17 and a 1 year high of $29.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.84 and its 200 day moving average is $24.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.50%.

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.