Great Diamond Partners LLC Reduces Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Great Diamond Partners LLC lessened its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 38.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,384 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,384 shares during the quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AT&T by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 624,994,998 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,999,912,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588,539 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in AT&T by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after buying an additional 5,592,123 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in AT&T by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 60,109,127 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,148,689,000 after buying an additional 1,569,374 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 2.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 51,558,884 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $985,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.1% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 30,092,610 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $575,070,000 after acquiring an additional 315,580 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AT&T Price Performance

T opened at $22.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.67. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.25 and a 1 year high of $22.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.25. The firm has a market cap of $157.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.04%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on T. TD Cowen raised their target price on AT&T from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.40.

AT&T Profile

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.