AT&T, priced at just $23.19 a share at the close of business on Friday, March 11, 2022, pays in quarterly increments of 52 cents each, with a total annual dividend of $2.08, equal to an 8.97 percent annual yield, one the highest among 500+ of the largest publicly-traded companies in the United States now.
Let me ask you a simple question: How much does your bank pay you for parking your hard-earned and saved money in their money-market account? Where I have my ‘emergency fund’ I am paid a measly 0.25 percent interest by my bank. Factor in our current annual inflation rate of 7.9 percent – the highest in some 40 years – I am actually actually losing value of my money by 7.65 percent per year.
If you want to offset the loss of value of your money market-based funds, and actually gain something on it, your solution is buy shares of AT&T Corporation. At an 8.97 percent annual dividend, you would net a gain of 1.07 percent (8.97 percent dividend gain minus 7.9 percent loss to inflation).
Is that already making you feel better? Good. Ensure that you buy those shares before the next AT&T earnings announcement date of April 21, 2022.
Here are some very important reasons to own AT &T shares:
- The company had revenues of nearly $169 billion at the close of business on December 31, 2021. With expenses of about $145 billion, it had an operating income of $23 billion.
- After paying income taxes and receiving miscellaneous monies, it netted some $20 billion, with $2.76 in diluted earnings per share (EPS). Of this amount, the company paid out $2.08 in dividends. Its payout ratio of $2.08 per share was over 75 percent of its EPS.
- The balance sheet of AT&T is excellent, with total net shareholder equity (assets minus liabilities) of over $166 billion.
- AT&T’s current price of $23.25 is just about its book value per share. This means that if the company were to pay off all its liabilities, each shareholder would be left with values of his or her shares just about equal to what they paid for them, with no loss.
- The company has almost zero net debt, with over 7 billion shares outstanding, of which more than half are owned by institutions. All in all, AT&T is a strong and profitable company to invest in. It was founded nearly 40 years ago in 1983.
