Shares of AT&T Inc. surged in heavy volume Monday to an 18-month high, after an activist investor that recently purchased a large stake in the telecom and media giant outlined a plan that it believes will boost the stock by more than 65% in less two years.
The stock T, +1.49% ran up as much as 5.2% intraday before paring gains to close up 1.5% at $36.79, which was the highest close since March 16, 2018. Trading volume ballooned to 117.9 million shares, compared with the full-day average of about 28.8 million shares, and enough to make the stock the most actively traded on major U.S. exchanges.
