Avantax Planning Partners Inc. Lowers Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. cut its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,255 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,249 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at $14,700,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 21,282,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $468,217,000 after acquiring an additional 104,700 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,326,904 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 320,089 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 21,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 195,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,312,000 after acquiring an additional 30,281 shares in the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

T has been the topic of several recent research reports. Argus upgraded shares of AT&T from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.74.

AT&T Price Performance

T opened at $26.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $186.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $27.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $24.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.95% and a return on equity of 13.97%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 74.50%.

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.