New businesses set to expand these telecoms

Article Excerpt

AT&T INC. $42 (New York symbol T; Income-Growth Dividend Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 6.1 billion; Market cap: $256.2 billion; Dividend yield: 4.7%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.att. com) is the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. It also offers traditional phone and satellite TV services. AT&T increased its quarterly dividend by 2.1% with the February 2017 payment, to $0.49 a share from $0.48. The new annual rate is $1.96 and yields 4.7%. That dividend has grown an average of 2.2% annually over the last 5 years. In October 2016, the company agreed to acquire media company Time Warner Inc. (New York symbol TWX) for $85.4 billion in cash and shares. If you include Time Warner’s debt, the total value of the deal is $108.7 billion. AT&T expects to complete the purchase by the end of 2017. Meantime, revenue in the three months ended December 31, 2016, fell 0.7%, to $41.8 billion from $42.1 billion a year earlier. The company added 1.5 million…