Hartford Investment Management Co. Cuts Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Hartford Investment Management Co. decreased its position in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 451,618 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 7,199 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $9,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in T. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in AT&T by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,717 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the period. Plan Group Financial LLC grew its position in AT&T by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC now owns 50,317 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,107,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares during the last quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 0.4% in the third quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC now owns 322,118 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,087,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the period. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 35.0% during the third quarter. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. now owns 31,629 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 8,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 4.8% during the third quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. now owns 106,453 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,342,000 after purchasing an additional 4,858 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

T has been the subject of several research reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen increased their price target on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.69.

AT&T Stock Performance

T traded up $0.16 on Wednesday, reaching $21.66. The stock had a trading volume of 6,542,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,427,293. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.74 and a 12-month high of $22.34. The company has a market cap of $155.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57. The firm had revenue of $29.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.05 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.12%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 63.79%.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.