Moors & Cabot Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Key Points

• Moors & Cabot Inc. has reduced its stake in AT&T Inc. by 8.3%, selling 15,682 shares, and now holds 172,980 shares valued at approximately $4.89 million.
• AT&T recently reported earnings exceeding expectations, with earnings per share at $0.54 and revenues of $30.85 billion, indicating a 3.4% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.2775, representing a 4.1% yield and a payout ratio of 63.07%, to be paid on August 1st to shareholders of record.

Moors & Cabot Inc. reduced its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 172,980 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 15,682 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $4,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in T. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC raised its holdings in AT&T by 182.1% in the first quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC now owns 993 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Core Alternative Capital raised its holdings in AT&T by 125.4% in the first quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 1,021 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on T shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AT&T from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $29.66.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of AT&T stock traded up $0.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $27.76. 38,807,241 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,627,860. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.76. AT&T Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.64 and a 1 year high of $29.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.81.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $30.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.44 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. AT&T's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.07%.

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.