AT&T Inc. $T Shares Sold by Newport Trust Company LLC

Key Points

• Newport Trust Company LLC has made AT&T Inc. its largest position, owning 189,762,992 shares, which constitutes 13.8% of its investment portfolio.
• AT&T reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.54, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $30.85 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share, which leads to an annualized yield of 3.8% with a dividend payout ratio of 63.07%.

Newport Trust Company LLC cut its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 189,762,992 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 2,461,008 shares during the quarter. AT&T accounts for approximately 13.8% of Newport Trust Company LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Newport Trust Company LLC owned 2.64% of AT&T worth $5,366,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AT&T during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC bought a new position in AT&T during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Hager Investment Management Services LLC boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 182.1% during the first quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC now owns 993 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. HSBC lowered AT&T from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on AT&T from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AT&T from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AT&T has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.21.

AT&T Stock Down 2.4%

T traded down $0.7110 on Friday, hitting $28.7290. The company had a trading volume of 33,993,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,014,602. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.38. AT&T Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.51 and a 12-month high of $29.65.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. AT&T had a net margin of 10.29% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The business had revenue of $30.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.07%.

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.