Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Reduces Stock Position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc decreased its stake in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 18.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,282 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 39,894 shares during the quarter. AT&T makes up 0.9% of Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest position. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s holdings in AT&T were worth $3,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AT&T by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.3% in the second quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 23,650 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.2% in the second quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC now owns 24,138 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 3.2% in the second quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 17,177 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of AT&T by 0.6% in the second quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 92,450 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,767,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on T shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of AT&T in a research report on Monday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AT&T from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of AT&T from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.38.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of NYSE T traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $21.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,094,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,910,266. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.68. AT&T Inc. has a one year low of $14.23 and a one year high of $22.34. The company has a market cap of $156.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.60.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.57. AT&T had a net margin of 10.41% and a return on equity of 14.16%. The company had revenue of $29.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 59.68%.

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.