ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 19,907 Shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,074,867 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 19,907 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $18,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of T. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 17,888 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares in the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 62.3% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 24,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 9,450 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,099,843 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,983,000 after acquiring an additional 206,434 shares in the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 476,601 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,262,000 after acquiring an additional 25,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1,191.3% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 12,706 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 11,722 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

T has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of AT&T in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised AT&T from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on AT&T from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised AT&T from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.68.

AT&T Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of T stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 45,814,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,577,504. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.49. AT&T Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.43 and a 52 week high of $18.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $118.09 billion, a PE ratio of 8.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.57.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.01). AT&T had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The firm had revenue of $32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. AT&T’s payout ratio is 56.63%.

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.