Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 64,823 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Wright Investors Service Inc. cut its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Free Report) by 52.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,537 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 64,823 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.'s holdings in AT&T were worth $1,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of AT&T by 5,378.3% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,780 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 3,711 shares during the period. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of AT&T by 32.9% during the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 19,491 shares of the technology company's stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 4,824 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. grew its position in shares of AT&T by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 12,039 shares of the technology company's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its position in shares of AT&T by 217.9% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 71,245 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 48,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 32.6% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 113,685 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,173,000 after buying an additional 27,970 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on T shares. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded AT&T from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of AT&T from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $25.76.

AT&T Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of T stock traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $21.80. 25,622,241 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 33,061,516. The stock has a market cap of $156.42 billion, a PE ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.59. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $22.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.26. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.94 and a 12 month high of $24.03.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. AT&T's quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AT&T Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. AT&T's payout ratio is presently 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.