NEW YORK, Feb 17, 2026, 19:04 (EST) — After-hours
- AT&T shares little changed after-hours, last at $28.68
- NYC pension funds sue over exclusion of workforce diversity disclosure proposal from 2026 ballot
- Investors eye AT&T CFO/COO conference webcasts starting Feb. 24
Shares of AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) were little changed in after-hours trading on Tuesday, last at $28.68, up less than 0.1%. Four New York City public pension funds sued the telecom company in Manhattan federal court after it kept a shareholder proposal on workforce diversity disclosures off the ballot for its 2026 annual meeting. The funds said AT&T stopped publishing a race, ethnicity and gender breakdown of its 133,000-person workforce in 2024 and wrongly relied on a November SEC policy change that lets companies exclude proposals if they claim a “reasonable basis”; the complaint called the exclusion “irreparable” harm and sought to block proxy solicitation without the item. (Reuters)
The case lands as U.S. companies move into proxy season, when the proxy statement — ballots and disclosures — goes out to shareholders ahead of annual meetings. Investors have been pressing for more transparency on workplace policies, while companies try to draw harder lines on what makes it onto the ballot.
For AT&T, a high-dividend telecom name, even small governance fights can become a distraction if they snowball into wider shareholder campaigns. Traders are watching whether the dispute stays a legal sideshow or turns into a louder debate ahead of spring annual meetings.
Earlier Tuesday, AT&T said it would webcast fireside chats with CFO Pascal Desroches and COO Jeff McElfresh at upcoming investor conferences and reiterated its 2026 and multi-year guidance and capital return plans. Desroches is scheduled to speak at Barclays’ Communications and Content Symposium on Feb. 24 (8:35 a.m. ET) and Deutsche Bank’s Media, Internet & Telecom Conference on March 9 (8:00 a.m. ET), with McElfresh due at Morgan Stanley’s Tech, Media & Telecom Conference on March 3 (10:00 a.m. ET). (AT&T Newsroom)
Those sessions matter more for the stock than the court calendar in the near term. Investors will listen for any change in tone on fiber buildouts, wireless promotions and the cash needed to fund it.
AT&T competes with Verizon and T-Mobile in a U.S. wireless market where pricing can turn quickly. A few comments on churn — customer departures — or handset subsidies can move the whole group.
Shareholder proposals are typically non-binding, but they can still force a company to defend its disclosures in public. Companies often seek “no-action” relief — SEC staff assurance they won’t face enforcement — before leaving a proposal off the ballot.
But lawsuits like this can cut both ways. A judge could refuse to intervene, leaving the proposal off the ballot, or could force AT&T to redo parts of its proxy process, which would raise costs and keep the issue alive into the meeting.
AT&T traded between $28.64 and $29.06 in Tuesday’s regular session, with volume around 30 million shares. The stock’s appeal as an income play can also make it unforgiving of any hint that cash flow is wobbling.
Next test for sentiment comes Feb. 24, when Desroches is due on stage at Barclays. In court, investors will watch for AT&T’s response to the complaint and any timing clues on its 2026 proxy filing.
