Verizon pays a quarterly dividend of $0.7075 per share, or $2.83 a year, which works out to a dividend yield of 5.98% at the September 24, 2026 close, according to Stock Analysis. The next Verizon dividend goes ex-dividend on October 9, 2026 and is payable on November 2, 2026, per Verizon's investor relations dividend history.
Below is a data-first look at Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) for income investors: the current payout, its history, how well cash flow covers it, and what the next ex-dividend date means for a buyer. Figures are as of September 24, 2026 unless noted.
Verizon Dividend Snapshot: $0.7075 per Quarter, 5.98% Yield
As reported by Verizon's dividend history page, the board declared the current quarterly dividend of $0.7075 per share on September 9, 2026, the same rate as the two prior quarters. That rate was set on January 30, 2026, when the board raised the dividend by $0.07 per share on an annualized basis, or 2.5%, according to Verizon's Form 8-K filed with the SEC.
Metric | Figure | Source (as of) |
|---|
Quarterly dividend per share | $0.7075 | Verizon IR (declared Sep 9, 2026) |
Annualized dividend per share | $2.83 | Stock Analysis (Sep 24, 2026) |
Dividend yield | 5.98% | Stock Analysis (at the $47.32 close, Sep 24, 2026) |
Next ex-dividend date | October 9, 2026 | Verizon IR |
Record date | October 9, 2026 | Verizon IR |
Payment date | November 2, 2026 | Verizon IR |
Payment frequency | Quarterly | Verizon IR |
Consecutive years of increases | 20 | Verizon (June 4, 2026 release) |
Freshness note: dividend yield changes every trading day because it divides the annual dividend by the current share price. A rising price lowers the yield and a falling price raises it, so check the live price before relying on the 5.98% figure.
Verizon Dividend History 2021 to 2026: Steady Raises of About 2% a Year
Verizon's own records show one dividend increase in every year from 2021 through 2026. The table below lists the new quarterly rate after each year's raise, the date that raise was declared, and the total dividend declared per share in each calendar year, according to Verizon's investor relations page. The percentage change is calculated from Verizon's figures.
Year | New quarterly rate | Raise declared | Change vs prior rate | Total declared in year |
|---|
2021 | $0.6400 | Sep 2, 2021 | +2.0% | $2.535 |
2022 | $0.6525 | Sep 6, 2022 | +2.0% | $2.585 |
2023 | $0.6650 | Sep 7, 2023 | +1.9% | $2.635 |
2024 | $0.6775 | Sep 4, 2024 | +1.9% | $2.685 |
2025 | $0.6900 | Sep 5, 2025 | +1.8% | $2.735 |
2026 | $0.7075 | Sep 9, 2026 | +2.5% | $2.7825 (three declarations so far) |
The trend is growing, not flat and not cut, but slowly. From 2021 through 2025, each raise added roughly 1.8% to 2.0% to the quarterly rate. The 2026 increase was slightly larger at 2.5% and came earlier in the year.
It was declared on January 30, 2026, the same day as Verizon's fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, rather than in September as in the previous five years. So the September 9, 2026 declaration, unlike the September declarations of 2021 to 2025, kept the rate unchanged at $0.7075.
In the company's June 4, 2026 dividend release, CEO Dan Schulman described the dividend commitment as "ironclad" and pointed to "twenty consecutive years of dividend increases." That is the company's own view of its record, not an independent assessment.
Verizon Payout Ratio and Free Cash Flow Coverage
Per Stock Analysis, Verizon's payout ratio is 73.73%, a measure that compares dividends with net earnings. Because dividends are paid in cash, income investors also compare the payout with free cash flow, the cash left after capital expenditures.
Period | Free cash flow | Cash dividends paid | Dividends as % of free cash flow |
|---|
Full year 2025 | $20.1 billion | About $11.5 billion | About 57% |
First half 2025 | $8.8 billion | $5.7 billion | About 65% |
First half 2026 | $10.2 billion | $5.9 billion | About 57% |
The 2025 free cash flow figure comes from Verizon's fourth-quarter 2025 results, the 2025 dividend total from its June 4, 2026 release, and the first-half figures from its second-quarter 2026 results filed with the SEC.
The percentages are Gotrade's calculations. On that basis, Verizon paid its dividend with a little under 60% of its free cash flow in both full-year 2025 and the first half of 2026, leaving the remainder for other uses such as debt reduction and share repurchases.
Guidance points in the same direction. In its second-quarter 2026 results, Verizon guided to free cash flow growth of 9.0% to 10.0% for 2026 and adjusted EPS of $4.99 to $5.04. The $2.83 annualized dividend equals roughly 56% to 57% of that adjusted EPS range, by Gotrade's calculation. Guidance is a company forecast, not a certainty.
There are real pressures on the other side. Verizon's net unsecured debt was $128.7 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2026, up from $110.1 billion at the end of 2025, and its net unsecured debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio rose to 2.5 times from 2.2 times over the same period, according to the company's results.
The dividend also competes for cash with share repurchases: per the 8-K, the board authorized a buyback of up to $25 billion on January 30, 2026 as part of a plan to return about $55 billion to shareholders through dividends and buybacks through the end of 2028, and Verizon bought back $3.5 billion of stock in the first half of 2026.
The same filing lists a significant amount of outstanding debt and changing interest rates among the factors that could affect results, including the company's ability to return capital to shareholders.
Based on 2025 and first-half 2026 figures, free cash flow exceeded dividend payments, while the dividend payout increased in each of the periods shown.
Higher debt and the new buyback program are the variables to watch. No dividend, including Verizon's, is guaranteed to continue or to grow, because the board declares each payment quarter by quarter.
Verizon Ex-Dividend Date Highlight: October 9, 2026
The next key date for the Verizon dividend is the ex-dividend date of October 9, 2026, per Verizon's dividend history. Verizon lists that day as both the ex-dividend date and the record date.
Amount: $0.7075 per share
Ex-dividend date: October 9, 2026
Record date: October 9, 2026
Payment date: November 2, 2026
One caution: the dividend is not a free gain. On the ex-dividend date, the share price generally reflects that new buyers no longer receive the upcoming payment, so buying just before the ex-date only to collect one dividend does not by itself create value.
Compared with two other US-listed telecom carriers, Verizon currently offers the highest yield of the three. According to Stock Analysis data at the September 24, 2026 close:
Company | Share price | Annual dividend | Dividend yield | Payout ratio (earnings) |
|---|
Verizon (VZ) | $47.32 | $2.83 | 5.98% | 73.73% |
AT&T (T) | $25.45 | $1.11 | 4.36% | 36.70% |
T-Mobile US (TMUS) | $165.35 | $4.08 | 2.47% | 42.78% |
AT&T has paid $0.2775 per quarter in every payment listed from October 2024 through July 2026, as reported by Stock Analysis. T-Mobile US raised its quarterly dividend to $1.02 from $0.88, one-year dividend growth of 15.91%, per Stock Analysis. Verizon's higher yield comes with a higher earnings payout ratio than both peers, which is the trade-off an income investor weighs.
This article is for education and information only and is not investment advice. Investment decisions are your own after doing your own research.
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