AT&T Inc. (AT & T Inc.) Stock , T

The destruction of the original AT&T — the American Telephone and Telegraph Company — in 1984 would give rise to Southwestern Bell Corp. By 2005, SBC had purchased one other remnant of the original conglomerate, known as AT&T corporation, and rebrand the new company as the AT&T Inc. we know today.

In 2005, once the merger was finalized by government regulators, AT&T stock ticker on the New York Stock Exchange officially switched to the traditional “T,” and AT&T stock still trades under the same ticker today.

AT&T is unique in being known as one of the “dividend aristocrats,” meaning it has not only paid, but increased, a dividend for more than 25 consecutive years. Making AT&T stock a popular stock among all types of traders.

Since 1984 and the SBC days, AT&T stock has paid out a total of $10.2 billion in dividends, according to an analysis by The Motley Fool. The current yield is just under 5%, and dividends on AT&T stock have increased for 31 consecutive years, for a 5-year dividend CAGR of 2.2%.

AT&T stock price has roughly followed the S&P 500’s trajectory over the past decades. The company — and AT&T stock price — was hit hard by the recession of the late 2000’s.

Despite being back on an upward trend, AT&T stock price under the T ticker symbol have never risen as high as SBC did in July 1999 when AT&T stock price hit $59.19.

This late 90’s spike in AT&T’s stock price was fueled by a $48 billion acquisition of cable company TCI from John Malone in 1998, and a $5 billion acquisition of IBM’s Global Network business the following year.

The “dot-com bubble” that impacted the stock market in 2000 sent AT&T stock price sliding down to as low as $21.62. AT&T stock rose over the course of the next 7 years, reaching another peak of $42.53 just before the crash in September 2007. This rise was helped by the appointment of current CEO, Randall Stephenson, in May of that year.

AT&T stock price hit a final downturn in the beginning of 2009. Shares have climbed almost constantly from that $23.77 low, and are up to the high $30 range as of August 2017.

In 2016, AT&T reported a revenue of  $163.8 billion, translating to an earnings-per-share of $2.10. As of August 2017, AT&T is awaiting federal approval from US authorities for a $108 billion merger with Time Warner. The move would consolidate the entirety of AT&T’s telecom holdings with Time Warner’s Warner Bros. Studios, Turner Broadcasting, CNN HBO. An approval will likely move AT&T stock price — and has already been approved by European regulators.