Leuthold Group LLC Cuts Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Leuthold Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 257,477 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,364 shares during the quarter. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $5,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AT&T in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of AT&T by 169.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 1,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter worth $35,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on T shares. DZ Bank raised AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on AT&T from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $28.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.33.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of T opened at $26.64 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.28. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $191.19 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $15.94 and a one year high of $26.72.

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, analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.