AT&T reported $0.13 a share in third-quarter earnings, down from $1.29 a year ago, and still told investors the dividend stays where it is. The company plans to maintain its annualized common stock dividend of $1.11 per share. The statement came with $32.3 billion in quarterly revenue, up 5.3%.
A one-sentence promise on the dividend
The dividend commitment appears in AT&T’s outlook, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as the exhibit to its third-quarter earnings report. The company says it plans to maintain its current annualized dividend of $1.11 per share. It gives no quarterly amount and no new declaration date in that report.
A holder of 100 shares would collect $111 over a year at that rate. The word that matters is plans: a board declares each payment separately, and a plan is not a declaration. AT&T pairs the dividend with a larger target, returning more than $45 billion to shareholders from 2026 through 2028 through dividends and buybacks.
Buybacks are the bigger lever in that plan. AT&T bought back $2.8 billion of common stock in the quarter and expects more than $24 billion in repurchases over the three years, including about $10 billion in 2026. It returned about $4.8 billion to shareholders in total during the quarter.
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Why reported earnings fell to 13 cents
Diluted earnings from continuing operations were $0.13 per share, compared with $1.29 a year earlier. Adjusted earnings rose to $0.65 from $0.54. The two measures are far apart this quarter, and the gap has specific causes.
A $0.41 per-share non-cash impairment on the Mexico wireless business, which is held for sale, accounts for much of the drop. That charge is $2.6 billion before taxes. Employee separation charges took another $0.09 per share, and $0.02 came from benefit, transaction, legal and other items.
The prior-year quarter was flattered by a gain from the sale of the company’s DIRECTV investment, worth $0.79 per share. That makes the year-over-year comparison harsher than the underlying business suggests. Income from continuing operations was $1.3 billion, and income attributable to common stock was $0.9 billion.
Phones, fiber and what customers pay
AT&T added 379,000 postpaid phone customers in the quarter, and postpaid phone churn was 0.92%. Fiber internet net additions were 442,000, part of 769,000 total advanced connectivity internet additions. The company says its fiber network now reaches more than 39 million consumer and business locations.
Price is part of the revenue story. Wireless service revenue rose 5.0% to $17,764 million from $16,926 million, partly because of pricing actions that were partly offset by promotional discounts for new subscribers. The report does not say how many customers were affected or by how much their bills rose.
Home internet is growing fastest. Advanced home internet revenue was $2,975 million, up 23.4%, and the company says that growth includes the acquired Lumen business, which closed Feb. 2, 2026. Business fiber and advanced connectivity revenue reached $1,992 million, up 8.7%.
Chairman and chief executive John Stankey said more homes and businesses are choosing AT&T for their connectivity needs across internet and wireless. He also said the company’s asset base positions it well for the AI era, with fiber as the best technology available. AT&T expects to pass more than 40 million locations with fiber by the end of 2026.
AT&T also lifted its multi-year targets. Adjusted earnings are guided to grow at a double-digit annual rate through 2028, and adjusted EBITDA growth for 2026 is expected in the upper portion of a 3% to 4% range. Separately, the fiber network assets sit in a vehicle called Forged Fiber 37, which is held for sale, with AT&T having agreed to sell a controlling interest.
The debt behind the payout
Funding the dividend and buybacks requires cash, and AT&T reports plenty of it. Free cash flow was $5.0 billion in the quarter, compared with $4.9 billion a year earlier. For 2026, the company guides to free cash flow of $18 billion or more, adjusted earnings of about $2.40 a share and capital investment of $23 billion to $24 billion.
Debt is large. Total debt stood at $159.6 billion at the end of the quarter, and net debt at $149.8 billion. AT&T linked the sequential increase to the close of the EchoStar spectrum transaction.
The payout plan sits on top of that debt. The company says it wants to return more than $45 billion over three years while carrying nearly $150 billion in net debt. At $1.11 per share, the dividend is the part of that plan most retirees feel directly.
The open question for anyone who owns AT&T for its payout is simple. With the reported earnings at 13 cents and the dividend promise unchanged, how much room does the board have if cash flow falls short of the $18 billion target? That is a question about the next declaration, not this one.
Counting on AT&T’s $1.11 against a phone bill that keeps rising?
A $1.11 annual dividend is $111 on 100 shares, and AT&T describes it as a plan rather than a payment already declared. Wireless pricing actions are part of what pushed the company’s service revenue up 5.0%, and the wireless and internet bills on a fixed income keep going up.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
