ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $31.58 Million Stock Position in AT&T Inc. $T

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,118,255 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 33,811 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $31,580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in T. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 5.9% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 401,037 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,606,000 after purchasing an additional 22,394 shares in the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden increased its stake in AT&T by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 1,221,395 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,347,000 after buying an additional 21,720 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in AT&T by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 324,104 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,380,000 after buying an additional 4,793 shares in the last quarter. Kickstand Ventures LLC. acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 2nd quarter worth about $489,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 153.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 22,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 13,370 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on T. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on AT&T from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Scotiabank set a $30.25 target price on shares of AT&T and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.24.

AT&T Stock Up 0.6%

T opened at $24.60 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.07. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.38 and a 1-year high of $29.79. The stock has a market cap of $174.40 billion, a PE ratio of 7.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54. AT&T had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The firm had revenue of $30.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 12th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, January 12th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is 36.04%.

AT&T Profile

AT&T Inc is a global telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and digital entertainment services. Its core activities include consumer and business wireless services, broadband and fiber internet, and network infrastructure. The company operates branded wireless services through AT&T Mobility and deploys fixed-line and fiber networks to deliver high-speed internet and related home services.

AT&T’s product and service portfolio spans mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and device sales, home internet (including fiber-to-the-home where available), and managed connectivity solutions for enterprise customers.