Empowered Funds LLC Sells 268,139 Shares of AT&T Inc. $T

Empowered Funds LLC decreased its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 27.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 707,942 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 268,139 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $20,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in T. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of AT&T by 5.3% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 1,488,172 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,142,000 after acquiring an additional 74,684 shares in the last quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the 1st quarter valued at $2,901,000. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in AT&T by 85.0% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 338,942 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,419,000 after acquiring an additional 155,728 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 749.1% in the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 159,598 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 140,802 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in AT&T by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 1,668,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,449,000 after purchasing an additional 59,279 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about AT&T

Here are the key news stories impacting AT&T this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Nationwide spectrum acquisition completed: AT&T closed its approximately $23 billion purchase of wireless licenses from EchoStar. The deal adds roughly 50 MHz of spectrum—including 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and 20 MHz of 600 MHz low-band spectrum—covering virtually every U.S. market. The additional capacity should support faster, more reliable 5G service and improve AT&T’s competitive position. AT&T Closes Acquisition of Spectrum Licenses from EchoStar
• Positive Sentiment: Potential operating efficiencies from D-Wave partnership: AT&T expanded its use of D-Wave Quantum’s (NASDAQ: QBTS) technology for network optimization, including outage detection, technician routing and traffic management. Initial testing reportedly reduced an optimization task from about one hour to 15 seconds. If scaled successfully, the technology could lower operating costs, improve outage response and make network investments more efficient. AT&T and D-Wave Expand Quantum Computing Agreement
• Neutral Sentiment: Financial backdrop remains supportive: AT&T recently exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $0.65 versus the $0.59 consensus, while revenue increased 2.3% year over year. Management also reiterated its financial outlook and capital-allocation plan. These results help reinforce confidence in the company’s dividend and ongoing network investments, although the spectrum transaction’s contribution to earnings will take time to develop.
• Negative Sentiment: Large capital commitment raises balance-sheet concerns: The $23 billion spectrum purchase is a significant investment for a highly capital-intensive, debt-laden telecom operator. The licenses should improve long-term capacity, but investors may remain concerned about financing costs, leverage and the need to generate sufficient returns from the additional spectrum.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on T shares. Argus dropped their price target on AT&T from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on AT&T from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $29.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on AT&T from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer cut AT&T from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.19.

AT&T Trading Up 1.0%

AT&T stock opened at $24.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $169.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.79 and a 200-day moving average of $25.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $19.89 and a one year high of $29.79.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 12.86% and a net margin of 16.94%.The business had revenue of $31.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. AT&T’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. AT&T has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.350 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.75%.

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.