AT&T To Settle SEC Lawsuit For Sharing Confidential Information With Analysts
AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) looked to settle a regulatory lawsuit for allegedly disclosing nonpublic financial information with analysts leading them to slash their estimates and enabling the company to beat sales expectations.
AT&T agreed to pay the SEC $6.25 million as a penalty without admitting or denying wrongdoing, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Three AT&T executives, Christopher Womack, Kent Evans and Michael Black, have agreed to each pay a $25,000 penalty. The SEC alleged that these executives were involved in violating Regulation FD and made private calls to analysts at about 20 firms.
The SEC filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in March 2021.
Regulators alleged the executives shared nonpublic sales information with 20 analysts who covered the company and periodically issued estimates for AT&T’s financial performance.
The executives wanted analysts to lower quarterly estimates as the employees knew quarterly consolidated gross revenue would miss market expectations.
The report states the SEC accused AT&T and the three investor relations executives back in 2021 of leaking details about its smartphone business to 20 firms.
The SEC alleged that the analysts “promptly” adjusted their revenue estimates, leading to a lowered consensus estimate, which AT&T beat when it announced earnings in April 2016.
AT&T held $2.4 billion in cash and equivalents as of September 30, 2022.
Price Action: T shares closed lower by 1.5% at 18.74 on Monday.
Photo by Tdorante10 via Wikimedia Commons
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