Focus Financial Network Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Focus Financial Network Inc. decreased its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,625 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 603 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its position in AT&T by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in AT&T by 112.9% during the 3rd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 2,916,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546,679 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in AT&T by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 17,218,490 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,330 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on T shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Scotiabank raised their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Trading Up 1.0 %

T opened at $25.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.96. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $25.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. Analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is presently 74.50%.

AT&T Company 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.