10 Best Dividend Paying Stocks To Buy According to Quant Hedge Fund AQR

5. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

AQR Capital’s Stake Value: $414,563,251

Dividend Yield as of August 22: 5.71%

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a Texas-based telecommunications company that offers mobile and broadband services to its consumers. Since the start of 2024, the stock has surged by over 13%, reflecting the company’s journey toward recovery after facing challenges in 2020. Back then, the company’s financial situation was dire, with a net debt of $152 billion. However, its investments in 5G and fiber optic internet networks, along with the growth in these areas, have contributed significantly to its financial turnaround. During the second quarter of 2024, the company repaid $2.2 billion in long-term debt and its net debt now stands at $126.9 billion.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) continued to generate healthy cash flow during the quarter. The company’s operating cash flow, though down $0.8 billion on a YoY basis, came in at $9.1 billion. Its free cash flow, however, grew to $4.6 billion, from $4.2 billion in the prior-year period. The company returned over $2 billion to shareholders through dividends and its payout ratio also improved to 45.9%, from 49.5% in the same period last year.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) pays a quarterly dividend of $0.2775 per share and has an impressive dividend yield of 5.71%, as of August 22. It is one of the best dividend-paying stocks according to AQR Capital as the company has been making uninterrupted dividend payments to shareholders since 1995. During the second quarter, the quant fund owned 21.8 million T shares, after increasing its stake in the company by 44%. The value of the fund’s stake is $414.5 million, which accounted for 0.63% of its 13F portfolio.

Insider Monkey’s database of Q2 2024 indicated that 71 hedge funds owned stakes in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), up from 70 in the previous quarter. These stakes are valued at over $2.7 billion. With over 27 million shares, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was the company’s leading stakeholder in Q2.