NEW YORK, July 9, 2026, 17:04 EDT
- AT&T Inc. NYSE:T slipped 0.4% to $21.04. Volume came in just above its 65-day average. The stock remains near the 52-week low.
- AT&T set the next dividend record date for July 10, with a 27.75 cent per share quarterly payout scheduled for Aug. 3.
- Wells Fargo cut its rating to Underweight and set an $18 target, which is around 14% under where shares ended Thursday. The move points straight at the Starlink risk.
AT&T Inc. NYSE:T traded lower Thursday, with shares now sitting around 6% above the 52-week low. The dip comes a day before a dividend cut-off date, which usually attracts income-focused buyers. This quarter’s payout comes in at about 1.3% of Thursday’s price. Meanwhile, a new Wells Fargo price target points to another 14% drop ahead.
This is why the trade is back in focus. AT&T’s dividend yield is around 5.3% again, but traders are starting to factor in a clearer risk from Starlink, the SpaceX satellite internet play, to fixed wireless — home broadband served up by mobile signals instead of cable or fiber.
| Thursday market snapshot | AT&T NYSE:T | Verizon Communications Inc. NYSE:VZ | T-Mobile US Inc. NASDAQ:TMUS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latest price/close | $21.04 | $42.24 | $181.48 |
| Day move | down 0.4% | off 0.5% | up 0.7% |
| Market value | $147.8 bln | $177.8 bln | $200.0 bln |
| P/E ratio | 7.1x | 10.3x | 19.3x |
The carrier tape told the story. AT&T and Verizon dropped, but T-Mobile traded higher. AT&T keeps the lowest price/earnings ratio among the three. That gap isn’t new, though—investors have to weigh whether the slower-growth, more leveraged carrier is offering enough in return, especially with satellite competitors moving closer to reality.
| AT&T income setup | Figure |
|---|---|
| Common dividend per quarter | $0.2775/share |
| Common dividend annual rate | $1.11/share |
| Dividend yield (indicated) | 5.28% |
| Ex-div date | July 10, 2026 |
| Dividend payment date | Aug. 3, 2026 |
AT&T is sticking with the 27.75-cent dividend for August. The company’s website shows the payout and confirms shareholders of record at the July 10 close will get the dividend. July 10 is also the ex-dividend date, so new buyers after that won’t get the payout.
Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall put out a bearish note on AT&T July 8, picking up coverage at Underweight and setting an $18 target. Cahall called AT&T “least likely to strike a Starlink Mobile MVNO,” pointing out MVNOs don’t own their own towers or spectrum. He put odds of a Starlink MVNO at 20% for AT&T, compared with 30% for T-Mobile and 40% for Verizon. Cahall wrote AT&T was “most at-risk to net add and PP account share loss,” talking about the postpaid customers the big carriers track closely. Investing.com South Africa
This week, the network side had some news. Ericsson NASDAQ:ERIC, AT&T and MediaTek (TPE:2454) said July 7 they wrapped up a North American field trial for a 5G Advanced mobility feature that reduced data interruptions by as much as 25% when users switch cells, compared with older tech. AT&T’s Rob Soni, vice president for RAN technology, said the trial showed better performance “where it counts – on the move,” mentioning applications like cloud services and video meetings. ericsson.com
AT&T lagged the indexes again. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust NYSEARCA:SPY added 0.8% Thursday, and the State Street Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLC) was up about 1.0%. AT&T slipped. AT&T made up 4.29% of XLC as of July 8. The fund’s 30-day SEC yield was 1.16%, which shows just how far AT&T’s income profile has moved from the rest of a sector now dominated by media and internet stocks focused on growth.
The bear case might still go too far. A big Starlink wholesale agreement with a top carrier could turn some of the risk into sales. Solid fiber numbers or a lift in postpaid phone adds could bring investors around on the dividend again. The down case is more direct: satellite bandwidth ramps up, fixed wireless slows, and AT&T has to press more on fiber in areas where coverage isn’t broad enough yet.
AT&T has its next big test July 22. The company will report second-quarter results then. Focus is likely to move beyond the next dividend to see how postpaid phone net adds look, what’s happening with fiber, free cash flow after capex, and if management is still confident about the 2026 plan. That plan calls for over $18 billion of free cash flow, yearly $1.11 common dividend, and about $8 billion set for buybacks.
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