Verizon Stock Flat Despite Hiking Dividends for 16th Year

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) announced a quarterly dividend of 65.25 cents per share today, up 1.25 cents from its previous quarter. This also marks the 16th consecutive year the telecommunications name has hiked dividends. At last check, VZ is up 0.1% at $41.35.

The equity has struggled on the charts lately, earlier slipping to a roughly seven-year low of $41.09. Shares have been chopping lower since breaching a floor at the $44 in late August, which had contained a previous pullback in July. Year-to-date, VZ is down 20.3%.

The options pits remain optimistic, per Verizon Communication stock's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 3.41 over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks in the 84th percentile of its annual range. This suggests calls have been more popular than usual over the past two weeks.