T Has Paid Out $122 Bil to Investors in the Past Decade
In the last decade, AT&T (T) has returned an impressive $122 Bil back to its shareholders through cold, hard cash via dividends and buybacks. Let’s look at some numbers and compare how this payout power stacks up against the market’s biggest capital-return machines.
As it turns out, T has returned the 16th highest amount to shareholders in history.
| T | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends | $108 Bil | $2.8 Bil |
| Share Repurchase | $15 Bil | $5.2 Bil |
| Total Returned | $122 Bil | $8.8 Bil |
| Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap | 58.8% | 25.5% |
Why should you care? Because dividends and share repurchases represent direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also signal management’s confidence in the company’s financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows. And there are more companies like that. Here is a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders via dividends and stock repurchases.
Top 10 Companies By Total Shareholder Return
| Total Money Returned | As % Of Current Market Cap | via Dividends | via Share Repurchases | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $835 Bil | 24.5% | $140 Bil | $695 Bil |
| MSFT | $364 Bil | 9.7% | $165 Bil | $199 Bil |
| GOOGL | $343 Bil | 13.7% | $12 Bil | $331 Bil |
| XOM | $207 Bil | 42.5% | $144 Bil | $63 Bil |
| WFC | $206 Bil | 79.3% | $59 Bil | $147 Bil |
| JPM | $168 Bil | 20.1% | $0.0 | $168 Bil |
| META | $167 Bil | 8.7% | $6.4 Bil | $160 Bil |
| ORCL | $163 Bil | 24.5% | $34 Bil | $129 Bil |
| JNJ | $157 Bil | 36.3% | $104 Bil | $52 Bil |
| CVX | $149 Bil | 54.0% | $97 Bil | $53 Bil |
For full ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking
What do you notice here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a % of the current market cap appears inversely proportional to growth prospects for reinvestments. Companies like META and MSFT are growing much faster, in a more predictable way, compared to the others, but they have returned a much lower fraction of their market cap to shareholders.
That’s the flip side to high capital returns. Sure, they are attractive, but you have to ask yourself the question: Am I sacrificing growth and sound fundamentals? With that in mind, let’s look at some numbers for T. (see Buy or Sell T Stock for more details)
T Fundamentals
- Revenue Growth: 1.5% LTM and 0.6% last 3-year average.
- Cash Generation: Nearly 15.8% free cash flow margin and 19.9% operating margin LTM.
- Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for T was -0.3%.
- Valuation: T trades at a P/E multiple of 16.3
- Opportunity vs S&P: Compared to S&P, you get lower valuation, lower revenue growth, and better margins
| T | S&P Median | |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Communication Services | – |
| Industry | Integrated Telecommunication Services | – |
| PE Ratio | 16.3 | 24.0 |
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| LTM* Revenue Growth | 1.5% | 5.1% |
| 3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth | 0.6% | 5.2% |
| Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y | -0.3% | -0.3% |
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| LTM* Operating Margin | 19.9% | 18.7% |
| 3Y Average Operating Margin | 19.9% | 17.8% |
| LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin | 15.8% | 13.0% |
*LTM: Last Twelve Months
That’s a good overview, but evaluating a stock from an investment perspective involves much more. That is exactly what Trefis High Quality Portfolio does. It is designed to reduce stock-specific risk while giving upside exposure.
T Historical Risk
That said, T isn’t immune to deep drops. It fell nearly 40% in the Dot-Com bubble and even more, about 45%, during the Global Financial Crisis. The 2018 correction and Covid pandemic both triggered pullbacks around 30%, while the recent inflation shock knocked it down close to 37%. Good fundamentals matter, but when the market sells off hard, T still takes a significant hit.
But the risk is not limited to major market crashes. Stocks fall even when markets are good – think events like earnings, business updates, and outlook changes. Read T Dip Buyer Analyses to see how the stock has recovered from sharp dips in the past.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.