One of the more notable dividend stocks of the last few years is Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ). The company has been making regular payouts since soon after it split from AT in the early 1980s. Moreover, it has a 17-year streak of payout hikes. Contrast that with AT, which slashed its payout in 2022 after more than three decades of consecutive annual increases and hasn't boosted it since. That move implicitly strengthened the position of Verizon's dividend among its telecom peers, but it also calls into question whether it will maintain the payout at its current level.

Verizon shareholders are receiving payouts of $2.66 per share yearly. At the current price, that amounts to a dividend yield of 6.6%, more than five times the S 500's average yield of 1.3%.

On the surface, the dividend appears sustainable. In 2023, Verizon's nearly $19 billion in free cash flow was more than enough to cover its $11 billion in total dividend outlays.

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Source Fool.com