Patton Fund Management Inc. Trims Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Patton Fund Management Inc. lowered its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 202,678 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 33,418 shares during the quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $4,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in T. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of AT&T in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new position in AT&T in the second quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $237,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 473,303 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,045,000 after purchasing an additional 31,661 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 700,577 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,388,000 after purchasing an additional 18,869 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Stock Up 1.2 %

T opened at $24.43 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $22.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.55. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $24.58. The company has a market cap of $175.26 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on T. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer started coverage on AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. New Street Research raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.11.

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.