Meritage Portfolio Management Has $2.75 Million Stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 52.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 163,893 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 181,985 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the third quarter worth approximately $185,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 43,337 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 10,758 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 28,537 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 9,102 shares during the period. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of AT&T during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,052,000. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 12.7% during the third quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 72,868 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after buying an additional 8,236 shares during the last quarter. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer upgraded AT&T from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AT&T from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.81.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of AT&T stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Thursday, reaching $16.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 46,652,405 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,432,227. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.43 and a 52 week high of $18.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $16.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.54. The firm has a market cap of $118.63 billion, a PE ratio of 8.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The technology company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The firm had revenue of $30.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.63%.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; and sells handsets, wireless data cards, wireless computing devices, carrying cases/protective covers, and wireless chargers through its own company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores.