How to buy AT-and-T shares

AT&T Inc (T) is a leading telecom services business with stocks listed in the US. It opened the day at US$28.63 after a previous close of US$28.74. During the day the price has varied from a low of USD28.41 to a high of USD28.63. The latest price was USD28.505 (25 minute delay). AT-and-T is listed on the NYSE. All prices are listed in US Dollars.

How to buy shares in AT-and-T

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for AT-and-T. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: T. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until AT-and-T reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of US$28.98, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of AT-and-T, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of AT-and-T. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

AT-and-T share price

Use our graph to track the performance of T stocks over time.

AT-and-T shares at a glance

• Live prices
• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-06-18.

Open	US$28.63
High	US$28.63
Low	US$28.41
Close	US$28.505
Previous close	US$28.74
Change	US$-0.235
Change %	-0.8177%
Volume	24,050,558

Information last updated 2021-06-17.

52-week range	US$25.4566 - US$33.88
50-day moving average	US$30.3731
200-day moving average	US$29.7375
Target price	US$30.69
PE ratio	28.4576
Dividend yield	US$2.08 (7.16%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$-0.3487

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy AT-and-T stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of AT&T Inc by TradingView

AT-and-T price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the last close of $28.505

1 week (2021-06-08)	-1.64%
1 month (2021-05-18)	-3.54%
3 months (2021-03-18)	-5.01%
6 months (2020-12-18)	-3.04%

1 year (2020-06-18)	-6.08%
2 years (2019-06-18)	-12.13%
3 years (2018-06-18)	-11.45%
5 years (2016-06-17)	-30.01%

Is AT-and-T under- or over-valued?

Valuing AT-and-T stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of AT-and-T's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

AT-and-T's P/E ratio

AT-and-T's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 28x. In other words, AT-and-T shares trade at around 28x recent earnings.

That's comparable to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29).

AT-and-T's PEG ratio

AT-and-T's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 3.2971. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into AT-and-T's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

AT-and-T's EBITDA

AT-and-T's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$52.4 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a AT-and-T's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

AT-and-T financials

Revenue TTM	US$172.9 billion
Operating margin TTM	16.64%
Gross profit TTM	US$91.8 billion
Return on assets TTM	3.29%
Return on equity TTM	-142.57%
Profit margin	-1.29%
Book value	23.178
Market capitalisation	US$209.1 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting AT-and-T shares

There are currently 95.8 million AT-and-T shares held short by investors – that's known as AT-and-T's "short interest". This figure is 18.4% down from 117.5 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting AT-and-T shares can be evaluated.

AT-and-T's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

AT-and-T's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of AT-and-T shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of AT-and-T shares traded daily (recently around 58.4 million). AT-and-T's SIR currently stands at 1.64. In other words for every 100,000 AT-and-T shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1640 shares are currently held short.

However AT-and-T's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of AT-and-T shares, or, against the total number of tradable AT-and-T shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case AT-and-T's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 AT-and-T shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0134% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable AT-and-T shares, roughly 13 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against AT-and-T.

Find out more about how you can short AT-and-T stock.

AT-and-T's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like AT-and-T.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

AT-and-T's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 24.57

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and AT-and-T's overall score of 24.57 (as at 12/31/2018) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 25th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like AT-and-T is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

AT-and-T's environmental score

Environmental score: 8.35/100

AT-and-T's environmental score of 8.35 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that AT-and-T is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

AT-and-T's social score

Social score: 15.4/100

AT-and-T's social score of 15.4 puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that AT-and-T is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

AT-and-T's governance score

Governance score: 14.32/100

AT-and-T's governance score puts it squarely in the 9th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that AT-and-T is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

AT-and-T's controversy score

Controversy score: 3/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. AT-and-T scored a 3 out of 5 for controversy – a middle-of-the-table result reflecting that AT-and-T hasn't always managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

AT&T Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	24.57
Total ESG percentile	25.2
Environmental score	8.35
Environmental score percentile	9
Social score	15.4
Social score percentile	9
Governance score	14.32
Governance score percentile	9
Level of controversy	3

AT-and-T share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 65% of net profits

Recently AT-and-T has paid out, on average, around 65% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 7.1% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), AT-and-T shareholders could enjoy a 7.1% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In AT-and-T's case, that would currently equate to about $2.08 per share.

AT-and-T's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

AT-and-T's most recent dividend payout was on 2 May 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 7 April 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have AT-and-T's shares ever split?

AT-and-T's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 19 March 1998. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your AT-and-T shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for AT-and-T shares which in turn could have impacted AT-and-T's share price.

AT-and-T share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, AT-and-T's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$25.4566 up to US$33.88. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while AT-and-T's is 0.744. This would suggest that AT-and-T's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

AT-and-T overview

AT&T Inc. provides telecommunication, media, and technology services worldwide. The company operates through Communications, WarnerMedia, and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless voice and data communications services; video and targeted advertising services; broadband, including fiber, and legacy telephony internet and voice communication; and wireline telecom services. It also sells handsets, wirelessly enabled computers, wireless data cards, and IP-based set-top boxes, as well as various accessories, such as carrying cases and hands-free devices through the company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores. This segment markets its communications services and products under the AT&T, Cricket, AT&T PREPAIDSM, AT&T TV, AT&T Fiber, and DIRECTV brand names. The WarnerMedia segment primarily produces, distributes, and licenses television programming and feature films; distributes home entertainment products in physical and digital formats; and produces and distributes mobile and console games, and consumer products, as well as offers brand licensing services, and advertising services. It also operates cable networks; video on demand streaming platform under the HBO Max and HBO GO names; multichannel pay television services under the HBO and Cinemax; and digital media properties, as well as licenses its content to television networks and over-the-top services. The Latin America segment offers video entertainment and audio programming services under the DIRECTV and SKY brands primarily to residential customers; pay-TV services, including HD sports video content; and postpaid and prepaid wireless services under the AT&T and Unefon brands, as well as sells various handsets through company-owned stores, agents, and third-party retail stores. The company was formerly known as SBC Communications Inc. and changed its name to AT&T Inc. in November 2005. AT&T Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of AT-and-T is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.101% of AT-and-T shares are held by insiders and 52.679% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for AT-and-T?

  AT-and-T's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is AT-and-T based?

  AT-and-T's address is: 208 South Akard Street, Dallas, TX, United States, 75202

• What is AT-and-T's ISIN number?

  AT-and-T's international securities identification number is: US00206R1023

• What is AT-and-T's CUSIP number?

  AT-and-T's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 00206R102