Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, February 2, 2018

Article Excerpt

AT&T INC., $38.07, New York symbol T, is the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., with 141.6 million subscribers. It also offers traditional phone and satellite TV services. Starting with the February 2018 payment, the company raises its quarterly dividend by 2.0%. Investors will now receive $0.50 a share, up from $0.49. The new annual rate of $2.00 yields a high 5.3%. AT&T has raised the annual payment for 34 consecutive years. In the three months ended December 31, 2017, earnings jumped to $19.0 billion, or $3.08 a share, from $2.4 billion, or $0.39, a year earlier. The latest earnings included a gain of $3.16 a share. That’s related to recent changes to the U.S. tax code. If you disregard that item, as well as costs related to hurricane damage and other unusual items, AT&T’s earnings per share in the latest quarter rose 18.2%, to $0.78 from $0.66. That beat the consensus estimate of $0.65. Revenue in the quarter fell 0.4%, to $41.7 billion…