AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Shares Sold by Bell Bank

Bell Bank lessened its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 315,002 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 119,707 shares during the period. Bell Bank’s holdings in AT&T were worth $6,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in T. D Orazio & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 6.3% during the third quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 13,287 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 786 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in AT&T by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,182,235 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,009,000 after acquiring an additional 218,312 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in AT&T during the 3rd quarter valued at about $261,000. Haverford Trust Co grew its position in AT&T by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 66,198 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,456,000 after acquiring an additional 13,142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in AT&T by 1.5% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,542,925 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $99,944,000 after purchasing an additional 65,395 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

AT&T Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:T opened at $22.30 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $160.01 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.59. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.52 and a 52-week high of $22.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.50 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.98%. AT&T’s payout ratio is 90.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on T. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. 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 report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded AT&T to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

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.