Guardian Investment Management Cuts Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Guardian Investment Management cut its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 46,226 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the quarter. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in T. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 6,602,586 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 161,120,657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,684,000 after purchasing an additional 3,630,972 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in AT&T by 1,901.0% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,166,814 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008,549 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 2,326,904 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of AT&T by 15.8% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 15,769,707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $346,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,016 shares during the period. 57.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on T shares. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised AT&T from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.83.

AT&T Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:T opened at $22.30 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $22.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. AT&T Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.94 and a 1-year high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.24%.

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.