Key Takeaways for Verizon Stock as of September 2026
- Dan Schulman called Verizon’s capital returns “a sustainable feature,” not a onetime event.
- Verizon’s quarterly dividend has held at $0.71 per share for two straight quarters, climbing from $0.69 the two quarters prior and $0.68 across four quarters before that.
- Verizon stock yields 5.75% on a forward basis, below its 6.58% two-year average, while the payout ratio sits at 77.03% for the quarter ended June 2026, well down from the 124.34% spike three quarters ago.
- TIKR’s mid case model: a $69 target price for Verizon stock by year-end 2030, a 37% total return, and an 8% annualized rate from today’s $50 share price.
Verizon Stock Rides a 24% Free Cash Flow Jump Into a Bigger Buyback Target
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) told investors on its second quarter 2026 call that growing the dividend, paying down debt, and buying back stock now sit together as one sustained capital return program, not a series of one-off moves.
CEO Dan Schulman put it plainly, saying the company is “returning incremental capital through buybacks, not as a onetime event, but as a sustainable feature of how we run this company going forward,” language he applied to the dividend and debt paydown in the same breath.
CFO Tony Skiadas backed that framing with numbers. Verizon delivered $9.4 billion in shareholder returns through the first half of 2026, up more than 60% year over year, split between $5.9 billion in dividends and $3.5 billion in buybacks.
That buyback figure already topped the company’s full year commitment of at least $3 billion, halfway through the year. Management responded by raising the full year buyback target to as much as $4.5 billion.
The capital return math holds up against an accelerating cash engine. Free cash flow reached $6.4 billion in the quarter, up 24% year over year, and Verizon raised its full year free cash flow growth guidance from roughly 7% to a range of 9% to 10%.
Cash flow from operations for the first half came in at $18.4 billion, up nearly 10% year over year. Adjusted EPS grew 6.6% to $1.30, and management raised full year EPS guidance to a 6% to 7% growth range.
Adjusted EBITDA hit $13.7 billion, up 7.2%, with margin reaching 40.1%, the highest Verizon has reported. Leverage moved the right direction too: net unsecured debt to adjusted EBITDA fell to 2.5 times, an improvement of 0.1 times from the prior quarter, after Verizon paid off substantially all of Frontier’s debt six months ahead of schedule.
Schulman closed the loop heading into the back half of 2026, telling analysts the company is investing in the network, growing the dividend, and paying down debt as parallel priorities, not competing ones.
Verizon Stock’s Payout Ratio Swings From 124% to 77% While the Dividend Keeps Climbing
Verizon’s quarterly dividend opened the window at $0.68 per share across four straight quarters, stepped up to $0.69 for two quarters, and now sits at $0.71, where it has held for two consecutive quarters. Not one quarter in the entire stretch shows a cut or a freeze below the prior level.
The payout ratio tells a messier story. It opened at 84.72% in the third quarter of 2024, settled into the high 50s for the next four quarters, then spiked to 124.34% in the fourth quarter of 2025 before falling back to 57.68% and then rising to 77.03% by the quarter ended June 2026.
That 124.34% reading is the only quarter in the entire record where the payout ratio broke 100%, and every quarter since has landed back under 80%. It reads as a single anomalous print, not a trend, against a dividend that never actually stopped climbing through the same window.
Verizon stock currently yields 5.75% on a forward basis, closer to the 5.47% low than the 8.72% high the stock has touched over the past two years, and below its own 6.58% average. A payout ratio settling back toward the 57% to 58% range that held through most of 2025 would confirm the dividend has room to keep climbing; a second reading above 100% would say otherwise.
TIKR’s $69 Target Prices Verizon Stock for a Turnaround Already Underway
TIKR’s mid case valuation model puts a $69 target price on Verizon stock by the end of 2030, implying a 37% total return and an 8% annualized rate from today’s roughly $50 share price.
That return profile puts Verizon stock in income-plus-growth territory, blending share price appreciation with the capital Verizon is already returning through dividends and buybacks.
The target leans on the same business picture Schulman and Skiadas laid out on the call: mobility and broadband service revenue accelerating toward 4% growth in the fourth quarter, free cash flow guidance raised to 9% to 10%, and leverage moving toward Verizon’s 2027 target range. The dividend is one thread in that picture, not the reason the target holds.
Should You Invest in Verizon Communications Inc.?
The only way to really know is to look at the numbers yourself. TIKR gives you free access to the same institutional-quality financial data that professional analysts use to answer exactly that question.
Pull up Verizon Communications Inc. stock and you’ll see years of historical financials, what Wall Street analysts expect for revenue and earnings in the quarters ahead, how valuation multiples have moved over time, and whether price targets are trending up or down.
You can build a free watchlist to track Verizon Communications Inc. alongside every other stock on your radar. No credit card required. Just the data you need to decide for yourself.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
