Maple Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Maple Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 41.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,871 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,231 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in AT&T were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sims Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $148,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AT&T in the fourth quarter valued at $3,273,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 151,774 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,456,000 after buying an additional 8,543 shares during the period. Tower Bridge Advisors raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 20,632 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of AT&T by 65.2% in the fourth quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. now owns 17,652 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 6,967 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on AT&T in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $28.00 price objective on the stock. New Street Research upgraded AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

AT&T Price Performance

Shares of T opened at $27.45 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $23.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.54. The company has a market capitalization of $197.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66. AT&T Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.94 and a fifty-two week high of $27.49.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.06. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. Research analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th were given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. AT&T’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.50%.

About AT&T

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.