STANKEY JOHN T 4

What Happened
John T. Stankey, CEO & President and a director of AT&T (T), received a distribution of 767,250 performance shares on 2026-01-29. Of those, ~301,913 shares were withheld for taxes and ~307,123 shares were surrendered to the issuer for cash, both at $25.13/share (totaling about $15.305M). That left 158,214 shares moved into direct ownership. In addition, Stankey was granted 228,810 restricted stock units (RSUs) under the 2018 Incentive Plan (derivative award; one-third vests each year 2027–2029).

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-01-29; Form filed 2026-02-02 (reporting period 2026-01-29). No late filing flag shown.
• Award/distribution: 767,250 performance shares (F1/F2).
• Withholding/dispositions: 301,912.875 shares withheld for taxes at $25.13 = $7,587,071 (F3); 307,123.125 shares surrendered/converted to cash at $25.13 = $7,718,004 (F4).
• Net retained from distribution: 158,214 shares transferred to direct ownership (F5). Approximate total value of the full distribution at $25.13 ≈ $19.28M; withheld/surrendered ≈ $15.31M; retained ≈ $3.98M.
• Additional grant: 228,810 RSUs (derivative units) at $0 cost; each converts to one share; vesting one‑third on 2/15/2027, 2/15/2028 and 2/15/2029 (F7).
• Source of indirect holdings: some shares were moved from indirect (benefit plan) to direct ownership per plan/admin records (F5, F6).
• Transaction types: A = award/acquisition, F = tax withholding, D = disposition to issuer. These were compensation-related transactions, not open-market sales.

Context

• This was a compensation-related distribution (performance shares + RSUs). The share withholding and surrender were routine tax/cash settlement actions tied to the award, not open-market sales by the CEO.
• RSUs are time-vesting derivative awards; they do not convert to tradable shares until vesting dates (one-third per year).
• For retail investors, such awards reflect executive compensation events rather than a direct buy/sell signal about the CEO’s view of the stock.