Verity Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,580 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Verity Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,011 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,580 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in AT&T by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,947,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $168,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,326,904 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in AT&T by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 30,281 shares during the period. Finally, Talbot Financial LLC bought a new stake in AT&T in the third quarter worth about $7,438,000. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.11.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T opened at $24.26 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.66. The company has a market cap of $174.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $24.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

AT&T 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.