Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) has reached an important milestone for income investors in 2026. The company has now increased its dividend for 20 straight years, giving it a long record of returning cash to shareholders. What makes Verizon particularly interesting is the size of its yield.
At around 6%, it ranks among the higher-yielding large-cap dividend stocks in the market. For investors who rely on dividends for income, that is hard to ignore. Verizon raised its quarterly dividend to $0.7075 per share in January, taking the annualized payout to $2.83.
At recent share prices, that works out to a yield of roughly 5.9%. The dividend growth itself is not particularly impressive. The latest increase was only 2.5%, which is broadly in line with the company's recent history.
Verizon is not the kind of dividend stock investors buy for rapid income growth. Its appeal is the combination of a high starting yield and a long record of modest increases. The most important question for a stock with such a high yield is whether the business is generating enough cash to keep funding it.
So far, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)'s numbers provide some comfort. The company generated $20.1 billion in free cash flow in 2025 and paid roughly $11.5 billion in dividends during the year. Cash generation has also improved in 2026.
Verizon produced $10.2 billion of free cash flow during the first half of the year, up 16% from the same period last year. Second-quarter free cash flow rose 24.4% to $6.4 billion. Management expects free cash flow to increase by 9%-10% in 2026.
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