ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,264,809 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 66,497 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $35,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 642,859,644 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $14,637,914,000 after buying an additional 6,220,442 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,719,723,000 after buying an additional 2,640,644 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 96,779,385 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,203,667,000 after buying an additional 26,280,866 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,858,418,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 78,148,354 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,779,438,000 after acquiring an additional 10,945,679 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AT&T Stock Performance

NYSE:T traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $28.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,085,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,473,882. The firm has a market cap of $203.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.74 and a 200-day moving average of $26.05. AT&T Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.14 and a 12 month high of $29.19.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $30.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.39 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 9.64% and a return on equity of 13.63%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. Research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. AT&T's dividend payout ratio is presently 68.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Securities boosted their price objective on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $31.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of AT&T in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $30.00 price objective on AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.90.

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.