AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is yet another company that has given up on opportunities for innovation and has lost its appetite for large M&A transactions. Instead, it will use the power of its balance sheet to buy back more shares — a means often used to improve earnings per share, among other things.
The board of directors of AT&T Inc. today declared a quarterly dividend of $0.45 a share on the company’s common shares. The dividend is payable on May 1, 2013, to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 10, 2013.
At the same time, the board authorized the repurchase of up to 300 million shares, representing approximately 5.5 percent of AT&T common shares outstanding, with no expiration date. This authorization is in addition to two other 300 million share repurchase authorizations approved by the board of directors in December 2010 and July 2012. The company completed repurchases under the December 2010 share authorization last year.
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