AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Price Down 1.3% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• AT&T shares fell 1.3% on Wednesday to about $25.57, on lower-than-average volume (34.3M traded vs. a 43.0M average).
• Management has ramped share repurchases so that buybacks exceeded dividends for the first time, lifting total shareholder yield above 8% and, together with FY‑2026 EPS guidance of $2.25–$2.35, potentially unsettling income-focused investors.
• Analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $30.55; AT&T recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue, pays a $1.11 annual dividend (4.3% yield), and is expanding its fiber footprint via the Lumen consumer fiber acquisition.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) shares traded down 1.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $25.48 and last traded at $25.5680. 34,299,029 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 43,046,203 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.90.

Key AT&T News

Here are the key news stories impacting AT&T this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management ramped share repurchases so that buybacks exceeded dividends for the first time, lifting total shareholder yield above 8% and signaling an aggressive capital-return posture that can support the stock and EPS over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Third-party testing and AT&T PR highlight that AT&T leads the U.S. in upload speeds (fiber + wireless converged), which strengthens the company’s competitive positioning for higher-value consumer and business services. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Lumen completed the sale of its consumer fiber-to-the-home business to AT&T, a deal that accelerates AT&T’s fiber footprint and subscriber scale (potentially supporting long-term broadband growth). Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AT&T Business is partnering with Geoforce on the GT1c rugged cellular tracker — a niche commercial win that expands AT&T’s IoT/asset-tracking use cases but is unlikely to move near-term revenue materially. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage of AT&T wireless plans and prepaid recharge options is product-level detail that helps customer-facing positioning but has limited immediate impact on the stock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Offsetting positives: AT&T’s FY‑2026 EPS guidance (about $2.25–$2.35) and a strategic tilt from dividends toward buybacks may unsettle income-focused investors who preferred steady dividend growth; combined with modest trading volume, these factors help explain downward pressure on the share price today.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of AT&T from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and set a $33.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $29.00 to $31.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on shares of AT&T from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.55.

AT&T Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $177.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.94, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $27.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.05.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $31.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $31.29 billion. AT&T had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. AT&T has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.350 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AT&T Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. AT&T's payout ratio is presently 37.25%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of T. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AT&T by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 664,055,700 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $16,495,144,000 after buying an additional 3,585,661 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AT&T by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 332,089,723 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,249,109,000 after buying an additional 8,314,678 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of AT&T by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 119,742,478 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,974,403,000 after buying an additional 4,079,062 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AT&T during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,181,977,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of AT&T by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 72,764,509 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,109,443,000 after buying an additional 8,197,935 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.10% of the company's stock.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc is a global telecommunications company that provides a broad range of communications and digital entertainment services. Its core activities include consumer and business wireless services, broadband and fiber internet, and network infrastructure. The company operates branded wireless services through AT&T Mobility and deploys fixed-line and fiber networks to deliver high-speed internet and related home services.

AT&T's product and service portfolio spans mobile voice and data plans, smartphones and device sales, home internet (including fiber-to-the-home where available), and managed connectivity solutions for enterprise customers.

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