M Holdings Securities Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

M Holdings Securities Inc. cut its holdings in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,344 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 87,239 shares during the quarter. M Holdings Securities Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in AT&T by 1,379.0% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,159,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $270,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,201,774 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AT&T by 43.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,853,624 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $414,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602,586 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of AT&T by 7.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 81,076,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,549,375,000 after acquiring an additional 5,592,123 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its position in AT&T by 22.0% in the second quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,988,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,528,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511,725 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of AT&T during the second quarter worth about $78,570,000. 57.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lowered AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of AT&T from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of AT&T to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AT&T to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T opened at $23.18 on Friday. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.94 and a 52 week high of $23.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $166.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.02 and a 200-day moving average of $19.92.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 13.97%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

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.