Dividend increase: Verizon

Article Excerpt

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $50 (New York symbol VZ, Income Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 4.1 billion; Market cap: $205.0 billion; Dividend yield: 4.7%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.verizon.com) has 113.9 million wireless users, 13.6 million landline phone clients and 15.6 million high-speed Internet and TV subscribers. Starting with the November 2017 payment, Verizon will raise its quarterly dividend by 2.2%. Investor will now receive $0.59 a share, up from $0.5775. The new annual rate of $2.36 yields a high 4.7%. The company has increased its dividend each year for the past 11 years. Verizon paid $4.5 billion for Yahoo’s Internet search business and related websites. Purchases like that, and ongoing upgrades to its networks, have pushed up Verizon’s long-term debt to $116.4 billion (as of June 30, 2017). That’s a high 57% of its market cap. However, the company plans to cut $10 billion from its annual costs by the end of 2021. Those savings will help it pay down…